HISTORICAL    DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED  AT  WORCESTEE, 


IN   THE 


OLD  SOUTH  MEETING  HOUSE, 

SEPTEMBER  22,  1863; 

The  Hundredtli  Anniversary  of  its  Erection. 


BY  LEOISTARD  BACOI^,   D.   D. 

PASTOR  OF  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  IN  NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. 


WITH   INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS   BY 

1101^.    IRA    M.    BARTO:^, 

THE   PRESIDENT   ON  THE   OCCASION. 


^ND    ^]sr    A.I>FE:^^DIx. 


WORCESTER: 
PRINTED  BY  EDWARD  R.  FISKE. 

18  63. 


'> 


Worcester  Sept.  29,  1863. 
Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D» 

Dear  Sir, 
By  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  committee  of  arrangements  for  commemo- 
rating the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  erection  of  the  house  of  worship  of 
the  First  Parish  in  Worcester,  we  have  the  honor  to  communicate  to  you  their 
thanks  for  the  valuable  and  interesting  discourse  delivei*ed  by  you  on  that 
occasion,  and  to  request  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 
We  are,  very  truly  and  respectfully. 

Yours,  &c. 

IRA  M.  BARTON, 
ALL15N  HARRIS, 
CALEB  DANA. 


New  Saven,  Oct  19,  1863. 
Hon.  Ira  M.  Barton,  Allen  Harris,  Esq.,  Caleb  Dana,  Esq. 

Gentlemen, — In  compliance  with  your  request,  I  now  submit  to  your 
disposal  a  copy  of  the  Discourse  which  was  delivered  at  your  late  Centennial 
Celebration.  Please  to  accept  my  grateful  acknowledgment  of  your  courtesy 
and  kindness. 

While  I  accepted  as  an  honor  the  invitation  to  perform  that  service,  I  could 
not  but  be  somewhat  embarrassed  by  the  consideration  that  I  had  no  particular 
acquaintance  with  your  local  and  parochial  history.  Your  kinSness  relieved 
me  of  that  embarrassment  by  providing  that  the  details  which  are  the  special 
interest  of  such  an  occasion  should  be  collected  and  narrated  by  one  of  your- 
selves, who  has  performed  that  service  much  better  than  I  could  have,  done. 
AVith  this  understanding  I  accepted  your  invitation,  considering  myself  as  in 
some  sort  a  substitute  for  my  young  friend  and  late  parishioner,  your  pastor, 
to  whom  such  a  duty  so  soon  after  his  installation  might  have  been  burdensome. 
May  his  ministry,  beginning  a  new  century  in  your  venerable  sanctuary,  be 
commemorated  with  praise  to  God,  when  the  second  century  shall  be  completed. 
Respectfully,  Yours. 

LEONARD  BACON. 


267984 


IKTEODUCTOEY  REMARKS 


BY 


HON.    IRA  M.    BARTON 


Fkiends  and  Fellow  Citizens  : 

You  are  all  aware,  I  presume,  of  tlie  object  of  the  occa- 
sion on  wliicli  we  have  assembled.  One  hundred  years  have 
elapsed  since  the  erection  of  the  walls  of  this  Church  ;  and 
the  Parish  worshipping  here,  have  thought  the  event  worthy 
of  grateful  commemoration. 

The  Church  was  erected  in  1763,  by  the  inhabitants  of 
"Worcester,  then  acting  in  their  municipal  as  well  as  parochial 
capacity ;  and  it  was,  therefore,  originally  the  property  of 
the  town.  But  after  the  incorporation  of  the  Second  Parish 
in  1787,  the  First  Parish  became  the  proprietors  of  the  House 
as  the  legal  successors  of  the  town,  and  their  records  as  a 
parish,  separate  from  those  of  the  town,  commenced  Dec. 
24,  1787. 

At  an  adjournment  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  First 
Parish  in  the  Spring  of  1863,  upon  the  recommendation  of 
a  committee  that  had  been  previously  appointed  to  consider 
the  matter,  it  was  voted  to  commemorate  the  Centennial 
Anniversary  of  the  building  of  their  Church,  and  to  appoint 


6 

a  committee  of  seventeen  to  make  tlie  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  the  occasion.  And  this  large  gathering,  not  only 
of  present  and  former  members  of  their  own  parish,  but 
from  other  parishes  in  the  city,  is  one  of  the  results  of  their 
labors. 

The  committee  found,  upon  the  authority  of  a  memoran- 
dum left  by  the  Rev.  Thaddeus  Maccarty,  the  minister  of  the 
town,  that  the  erection  of  their  Church  was  commenced  June 
21,  1763,  and  that  it  was  so  far  finished  that  public  religious 
services  were  held  in  it  December  8,  the  same  year,  being 
the  day  of  the  annual  Thanksgiving.  It  does  not  appear 
that  the  Church  was  ever  formally  dedicated.  A  Thanksgiv- 
ing and  historical  discourse  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Maccarty 
on  the  occasion  referred  to,  which,  it  is  a  source  of  great 
regret,  was  not  published,  and  is  irrecoverably  lost. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  parish  deemed  it  not  ma- 
terial that  the  day  for  this  commemoration,  should  coincide 
precisely  with  the  day  of  the  first  occupancy  of  their  Church. 
And  the  committee  accordingly  fixed  upon  this  day,  at  this 
genial  season  of  the  year,  as  more  agreeable,  especially  for 
our  friends  from  abroad  to  visit  us,  than  any  day  nearer  the 
usual  period  of  our  annual  Thanksgiving. 

As  this  Church  was  originally  of  a  municipal  character, 
and  the  property  of  the  town,  the  committee  thought  that 
the  occasion  called  for  something  more  than  a  mere  parish 
observance.  They  have  therefore  invited  the  attendance  not 
only  of  members  of  their  own  parish  that  have  gone  out 
from  them,  but  other  prominent  and  ancient  inhabitants  of 
the  town.  As  the  representatives  of  the  city,  they  have  also 
invited  the  presence  of  the  Mayor  and  his  predecessors,  and 
the  Clergymen  of  the  different  religious  communions.  And 
as  the  organ  of  the  committee,  it  is  my  agreeable  duty  to 


express  to  each  and  all  of  you  on  tliis  occasion,  tlicir  very 
sincere  welcome  and  congratulations. 

I  said  that  the  walls  of  this  House  were  erected  in  1763. 
Those  remain  much  as  they  were  originally ;  while  the  inte- 
rior has  heen  renovated  and  fitted  up  with  some  of  the  dec- 
orations and  conveniences  demanded  hy  more  modern  taste. 
The  original  interior  construction  of  the  House,  is  indicated 
by  the  diagram  suspended  frbm  the  centre  of  the  east  gal- 
lery, as  copied  hy  an  ingenious  member  of  the  parish,  from 
a  folio  leaf  of  the  town  records.  This  gallery,  however,  is 
a  modern  intruder.  In  the  centre  of  the  space  now  occupied 
by  it,  stood  the  spacious  pulpit,  and  the  ponderous  sounding 
board  suspended  over  it,  while  the  galleries  were  confined 
to  the  other  three  sides  of  the  House. 

From  the  pulpit  extended  the  broad  aisle  to  the  ample 
and  lofty  porch  upon  the  west  side  of  the  Church,  fronting 
on  the  '' country  road,''  now  Main  Street.  This  porch  gave 
access  to  both,  the  floor  of  the  House  and  the  west  gallery. 
And  it  was  from  its  roof,  as  his  rostrum,  that  Isaiah  Thomas, 
on  the  14th  of  July  1776,  proclaimed  to  the  assembled 
people,  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  after  the  document 
had  made  a  laborious  journey  of  ten  days  from  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  where  Congress  was  then  sitting. 

There  were  also  entrances  to  the  floor  and  the  galleries  of 
the  House,  by  way  of  another  porch  at  the  south,  and  the 
bell  tower  at  the  north  end  of  it. 

The  audience  room  upon  the  floor  of  the  House  was  laid 
out  into  the  large,  square,  social  pews  of  the  day,  excepting 
seven  free  seats  upon  each  side  of  the  broad  aisle,  in  front 
of  the  pulpit ;  those  upon  the  right  hand  side,  as  they  enter- 
ed the  House,  being  appropriated  for  the  men,  and  those 
upon  the  left,  for  the  women.      But  the  increasing  demand 


8 

for  new  pews,  afterwards  usurped  the  place  of  all  those 
seats  except  the  two  front  ones. 

At  the  time  of  the  erection  of  this  Church  in  1763,  the 
Eev.  Mr.  Maccarty,  the  minister  of  the  town,  was  in  the 
prime  of  life,  being  about  forty  years  of  age.  He  was 
prominent  amongst  the  provincial  clergy,  having  been  the 
successful  rival  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  of  Martha's 
Vineyard,  afterwards  the  distinguished  minister  of  the  West 
Church  in  Boston.  After  having  ministered  to  the  united 
inhabitants  of  the  town  for  thirty  seven  years,  he  died  July 
20,  1784,  and  was  interred  in  the  ancient  burial  place  on  the 
Common,  near  the  Church  where  he  so  long  labored.  The 
town  caused  a  handsome  headstone  to  be  erected  at  his 
grave,  with  an  inscription  since  substantially  transferred  by 
one  of  his  descendants,*  with  the  approbation  of  the  parish, 
to  the  mural  tablet,  upon  the  east  side  of  the  pulpit  of  this 
Church,  where  the  successors  of  the  people  of  his  charge 
still  worship.  Higher  evidence  of  his  "  peaceful  Christian 
virtues,"  will  not  be  sought  by  this  community. 

The  portrait  of  Mr.  Maccarty,  upon  the  opposite  side  of 
the  pulpit,  has  been  kindly  loaned  for  this  occasion,  by  his 
great-grand-daughter,  Mrs.  Henry  K.  ISTewcomb.  It  indi- 
cates, strikingly,  the  clerical  costume  of  his  day,  and  is, 
probably,  as  good  a  likeness  of  the  original,  as  the  state  of 
the  arts  in  this  country,  at  that  period,  could  afford. 

The  candelabra  suspended  upon  either  side  of  the  pulpit, 
furnished  also  by  Mrs.  JSTewcomb,  derive  their  interest  from 
having  been  decorations  of  the  ancient  parsonage,  and  that 
the  ornamental  part  of  them,  was  the  handy  work  of  Mrs. 
Maccarty.      Tradition  testifies  to  her  eminent  piety  and 


*Hon.  Dwiojht  Foster. 


9 

virtue ;  and  we  here  have  proof  of  her  superior  accomplish- 
ments for  the  age  in  which  she  lived. 

Time  does  not  allow  me  even  to  name  the  prominent 
memhers  of  Mr.  Maccarty's  congregation.  The  names  of 
the  pew-holders  appear  on  the  diagram  referred  to,  inscribed 
upon  their  respective  pews.  Conspicuous  amongst  these,  was 
the  pew  of  honor  at  the  right  hand  of  the  pulpit,  assigned 
to  John  Chandler,  Esq.,  in  recognition  of  the  bequest  of 
forty  pounds  to  the  town,  by  his  father.  Judge  Chandler,  to 
alleviate  the  taxes  upon  the  poorer  inhabitants,  for  building 
the  Church.  The  whole  sixty  one  pews  were  appraised,  and 
the  choice  of  them  was  oifered  to  the  people  in  the  order  of 
the  amount  of  taxes  paid  by  them  upon  their  real  estate, 
respectively,  beginning  with  the  highest.  In  that  way,  the 
proprietors  of  the  pews  probably  became  those  who  were 
then  regarded  as  the  solid  men  of  Worcester.  Several  of 
them  are  noticed  by  William  Lincoln,  Esq.,  in  his  model  his- 
tory of  the  town,  while  there  are  others,  equally  worthy  of 
remembrance,  respecting  whom  we  diligently  seek  materials 
for  genealogical  and  personal  history.  Any  such  materials, 
derived  from  family  records,  well  authenticated  traditions  or 
otherwise,  if  communicated  to  Deacon  Allen  Harris,  the 
chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose,  will 
be  gratefully  received  and  appropriately  preserved. 

The  Building  Committee  of  the  Church,  chosen  May  17, 
1762,  embracing  probably  the  more  active  business  men  of 
the  town,  were;  John  Chandler,  jr.,  Joshua Bigelow,  Josiah 
Erewer,  John  Curtis,  James  Putnam,  Daniel  Boyden,  James 
Ooodwin,  Jacob  Ilemenway,  David  Bigelow,  Samuel  Mower, 
and  Elijah  Smith. 

It  has  been  ascertained  by  our  respected  fellow  citizen. 
Dr.  George  Chandler,  a  collateral  kinsman  of  the  Chandler 


10 

family,  that  Judge  Chandler,  the  first  of  the  name  in  Wor- 
cester, died  August  7,  1762.  His  son,  John  Chandler,  jr., 
succeeded  to  hoth  the  civil  and  military  ofiices  of  his  father, 
and  was  described  in  the  same  manner  upon  both  the  town 
and  Probate  records.  Hence,  to  prevent  confusion  in  refer- 
ing  to  those  records,  it  becomes  necessary  to  note  the  day  of 
the  death  of  the  father,  ascertained  from  his  obituary  in  the 
Boston  N^ews  Letter. 

Of  the  other  members  of  the  Building  Committee,  Joshua 
Bigelow  was  repeatedly  a  representative  of  the  town  in  the 
Provincial  Assembly.  James  Putnam  was  a  distinguished 
lawyer,  with  whom  the  first  President  Adams  read  law  while 
keeping  school  in  Worcester,  a  few  years  before  the  erection 
of  this  Church.  David  Bigelow  was  an  elder  brother  of 
Col.  Timothy  Bigelow,  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress, and,  in  1779,  the  colleague  of  Levi  Lincoln,  sen.,  and 
Joseph  Allen,  as  the  delegate  to  the  Convention  for  framing 
the  Constitution  of  this  Commonwealth.  The  Hon.  George 
T.  Bigelow,  the  present  Chief  Justice  of  our  Supreme  Ju- 
dicial Court,  is  a  grandson  of  this  David  Bigelow. 

At  the  time  of  the  election  of  the  Building  Committee, 
they  were  limited  by  the  town  to  an  expenditure  of  twelve 
hundred  pounds  ;  and  afterwards,  at  a  meeting  of  the  town. 
May  18,  1863,  it  was  voted  "  that  said  committee  hire  a  suit- 
able number  of  men  to  raise  the  new  meeting  house  in  the 
cheapest  manner  they  can,  and  that  there  be  no  public  en- 
tertainment." The  frugality  and  temperance  of  the  town 
compare  somewhat  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  parish,  which, 
in  1790,  at  the  installation  of  Rev.  Dr.  Austin,  expended 
ten  pounds  seven  shillings  and  sixpence,  and  that  for  articles 
which  it  would  be  unseemly  to  name  in  this  presence. 

Such  was  this  House,  and  such  some  of  the  worshippers  in 


11 

it,  one  hundred  years  ago.  A  further  notice  of  them,  with 
their  contemporaries,  would  constitute  a  service  interesting 
to  the  present  and  future  generations  of  this  city. 

The  first  alteration  in  the  interior  of  this  House,  was  made 
by  the  town  in  1783.  Two  of  the  back  free  seats  of  the 
men,  upon  the  right  hand  side  of  the  broad  aisle,  and  the 
two  corresponding  seats  for  the  women  on  the  side  opposite, 
were  taken  out,  and  four  new  pews  erected  in  their  place. 
They  were  erected  under  the  supervision  of  Timothy  Paine, 
Joseph  Allen,  and  Joseph  Wheeler,  Esq'rs,  as  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  town  for  that  purpose.  This  was  regarded 
as  a  matter  of  so  much  importance,  that  the  pews  were  sold, 
in  presence  of  the  town,  at  a  largely  enhanced  price ;  the 
two  upon  the  women's,  or  left  hand  side  of  the  broad  aisle, 
to  Daniel  Waldo,  sen.,  and  Isaiah  Thomas ;  and  the  two 
upon  the  men's  side  opposite,  to  Dr.  Elijah  Dix  and  Il^athan 
Patch.  Subsequently,  in  1805,  the  parish  removed  eight 
more  of  the  free  seats,  giving  place  for  eight  additional 
pews,  and  leaving  two  free  seats  in  front  for  aged  people. 
Benjamin  Hey  wood,  Samuel  Flagg  and  Oliver  Fiske,  Esq'rs, 
were  appointed  to  erect  and  make  sale  of  these  pews.  They 
appear  to  have  been  sold  to  John  Green,  Ephraim  Mower, 
Daniel  Denny,  John  Mower,  Samuel  Harrington,  Edward 
Knight,  Oliver  Fiske  and  Moses  Perry,  for  the  aggregate 
sum  of  $946 ;  indicating  that,  at  that  period,  the  meeting- 
house stock  was  in  good  demand. 

But  the  more  radical  change  in  the  internal  arrangement 
of  the  House,  was  reserved  until  the  year  1828.  The  sixty- 
one  ancient-  pews  then  all  gave  place  to  the  ninety-two 
modern  slips  on  the  floor,  and  forty  two  in  the  galleries,  as 
we  now  find  them.  The  ancient  pulpit  and  sounding  board, 
with  its  pendant  dove  and  olive  branch  over  the  minister's 


12 

head,  all  disappeared ;  the  eastern  gallery  was  constructed, 
and  the  modern  pulpit  found  its  place  at  the  north  end  of 
the  audience  room.  The  porch  upon  the  west  side  of  the 
House  was  at  the  same  time  removed,  and  wings  being  placed 
on  each  side  of  the  bell  tower,  gave  to  the  structure  a  come- 
ly northern,  instead  of  the  former  western  front. 

In  1834  the  parish  applied  to  the  town  for  permission  to 
erect  a  Chapel,  or  Yestry,  as  it  was  called,  on  the  Common, 
at  the  south  end  of  their  Church.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
town,  with  the  better  judgment,  refused  such  permission, 
but  granted  leave  to  the  parish  to  extend  the  whole  body  of 
their  Church,  twenty  five  feet  to  the  south,  thus  making  its 
entire  dimensions  ninety-five  by  fifty-five  feet.  This  addi_ 
tion  was  made  the  following  year,  involving  the  destruction 
of  the  ancient  porch  at  the  south  end  of  the  Church,  and 
affording  space  for  a  Chapel  on  the  upper  floor,  and  an 
ample  vestibule  below,  without  interfering  with  the  audience 
room  or  galleries. 

In  1846,  the  parish  fitted  up  the  vestibule  below  for  their 
Chapel ;  moved  back,  in  a  semi-circular  form,  the  south 
gallery,  from  over  the  rear  pews  in  the  audience  room,  and 
erected  the  organ  loft  upon  the  floor  that  had  before  been 
occupied  as  the  Chapel,  with  a  convenient  committee  room 
or  study  upon  the  east  side  of  it.  Thus  arranged,  we  find 
our  Church  at  this  commencement  of  the  second  century  of 
its  existence. 

In  the  summer  of  1846,  Mr.  Appleton  of  Boston  put  up 
one  of  his  best  instruments  in  the  organ  loft,  at  the  cost  of 
three  thousand  dollars.  It  was  in  part  procured  by  the 
subscription  of  individuals  ;  but  their  interest  was  afterwards 
surrendered  to  the  parish,  which  is  now  the  sole  owner  of 
it. 


13 

I  hardly  need  say,  that  these  particulars  as  to  the  material 
history  of  our  venerable  Church,  are  more  for  the  informa- 
tion of  th^  generations  that  are  to  succeed  us,  than  for  any 
special  interest  they  may  possess  for  the  present  one. 

The  situation  of  the  immediate  surroundings  of  this 
Church  in  1763,  when  it  was  erected,  is  worth  noting. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  we  must  annihilate  our  pleasant 
Central  Park,  with  its  enclosure,  and  reduce  it  to  a  bald 
Common  or  training  field,  for  which  it  appears  to  have  been 
originally  dedicated  by  the  proprietors  of  the  town. 

"We  must  next  demolish  our  spacious  City  Hall,  and  give  the 
Church  an  unobstructed  northern  prospect  down  the  sparse- 
ly settled  Main  Street,  which  was  bounded  on  the  north  by 
the  ancient  Court  House,  occupying  nearly  the  same  site 
with  the  present  Court  Houses  on  Court  Hill. 

To  the  east  of  the  Church  was  the  Common,  .with  the 
burying  ground  upon  the  east  side  of  it.  That  ground  was 
generally  used  for  the  purpose  of  burials  from  about  1730 
to  1795,  when  the  town  procured  the  burial  ground  on  Me- 
chanic Street.  Some  notice  of  the  disposition  that  has  been 
made  of  this  ancient  ground  on  the  Common,  is  perhaps 
due  to  those  having  friends  interred  there.  At  an  early 
period,  a  heavy  stone  wall  had  been  laid  around  this  ground, 
separating  it  from  the  Common.  This  might,  indeed,  serve 
as  a  protection  of  the  ground  against  desecration  from  with- 
out, but  it  was  found  also  to  serve  as  a  concealment  of  all 
manner  of  desecration  from  within ;  and  after  the  ground 
ceased  to  be  used  for  burials,  it  became  unsightly  and  often- 
sive.  The  wall  was  removed  ;  and  after  the  organization  of 
the  City  Government  in  1848,  it  was  proposed  to  remove 
the  bodies  to  the  new  rural  Cemetery  and  to  level  the  ground 


14 

where  tliey  had  been  originally  interred.  The  public  feeling 
revolted  at  that  idea,  and,  by  the  influence  of  gentlemen 
whom  I  now  see  before  me,  the  project  was  defeated. 

The  City  Government  then  adopted  the  plan  of  making  a 
perfect  survey  of  the  ground,  by  placing  permanent  stone 
monuments  just  below  the  surface,  and  taking  the  bearing 
and  distance  from  such  monuments  to  each  grave  having  a 
head  stone.  The  headstones  were  then  carefully  taken  up 
and  placed  over  the  graves,  about  one  foot  below  the  surface 
of  the  ground.  The  graves  were  numbered,  and  a  plan  of 
the  ground  made,  indicating  the  precise  position  of  each 
grave,  accompanied  by  an  index  of  the  numbers  and  a  copy 
of  the  respective  epitaphs.  Any  person  desirous  of  remov- 
ing the  remains  of  a  friend,  (an  act  of  questionable  good 
taste,)  may  thus  ascertain  its  position  with  mathematical  cer- 
tainty, and  accomplish  his  pious  purpose.  The  survey  was 
made  in  1853,  by  Gill  Valentine,  Esq. ;  and  the  plan,  with 
an  earlier  and  fuller  copy  of  the  epitaphs,  published  by  a 
young  gentleman*  of  this  city,  of  antiquarian  taste,  is  pre- 
served with  the  archives  of  the  city.  -  Pleasant  varieties  of 
our  native  forest  trees  were  set  out  in  the  intervals  between 
the  graves,  and  the  ground,  from  a  repulsive,  has  become 
one  of  the  most  quiet  and  inviting  spots  in  the  city.  The 
massive  and  elegant  monument  recently  erected  over  the 
grave  of  Col.  Timothy  Bigelow,  will  forever  identify  the 
spot  as  the  ancient  burial  place  on  the  Common.  It  is  per- 
haps further  due  to  the  memory  of  those  that  repose  there, 
that  a  substantial  Cenotaph  should  be  erected  near  the 
centre  of  the  ground,  with  the  names  of  the  heads  of  the 
families  inscribed  upon  it. 


■Wm.  Sumner  Barton,  Esq.,  in  1848. 


15 

Upon  the  south  side  of  the  Common,  near  the  present 
junction  of  Park  and  Portland  streets,  was  the  parsonage  of 
the  Eev.  Mr.  Maccarty. 

Upon  the  west  front  of  the  Church  was  the  country  road 
already  referred  to.  Upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  the 
grounds  were  all  vacant,  except  the  Chandler  house,  or  as  it 
was  afterwards  known,  the  Bush  house.  That  is  entitled  to 
the  distinction  of  being  coeval  with  this  Church.  It  was 
noticed  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dwight,  in  his  travels  through  ISTew 
England  nearly  seventy  years  ago,  as  'Hhe  house  erected  by 
the  late  G-ardner  Chandler,  Esquire,  and  one  of  the  hand- 
somest he  had  met  with  in  the  interior  of  the  country ;"  the 
Dr.  thus  giving  a  graphic  and  probably  correct  idea  of  the 
state  of  rural  architecture  at  that  period,  by  reference  to  a 
structure  now  quite  thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  palatial 
residences  upon  either  side  of  it.  The  antiquity  of  that 
structure  is  deduced  not  only  from  tradition  and  the  style  of 
its  architecture,  but  from  the  testimony  of  the  late  Judge 
!N'athaniel  Paine,  who,  if  now  living,  would  be  somewhat 
more  than  a  hundred  years  old.  In  the  many  pleasant  con- 
versations had  with  the  Judge,  after  he  left  the  Probate  Of- 
fice in  1836,  I  once  asked  him  for  the  history  of  the  Chand- 
ler house.  He  premised  that  "he  married  his  wife  from 
that  house ;  that  the  main  part  of  it  and  the  north  wing 
,  were  erected  before  the  revolution  ;  that  the  plan  was  to  add 
a  south  wing  corresponding  with  the  north,  but  the  troubles 
preceding  the  revolution  broke  out,  and  the  latter  part  of 
the  plan  was  abandoned."  Those  troubles,  it  is  well  known, 
commenced  with  the  Stamp  Act,  which  was  passed  in  1765, 
but  two  years  after  the  erection  of  this  Church ;  leading  to 
the  satisfactory  conclusion  that  the  Chandler  house  and  this 
Church  had  a  contemporaneous  origin.* 

*At  the  present  time,  1863,  Judge  Barton  is  the  occupant  of  this  house. 


16 

Those  ancient  landmarks,  tlie  sycamore  trees  in  front  of 
the  Chandler  house  and  the  estate  of  the  Hon.  Isaac  Davis, 
opposite  the  Church,  are  perhaps  worthy  of  passing  notice. 
They  were  transplanted  from  the  valley  of  the  Blackstone 
river,  where  the  sycamore  is  a  natural  growth.  Having 
learned  the  agreeable  associations  the  venerable  Judge  must 
have  with  those  trees,  to  enable  me  to  answer  the  constant 
enquiries  made  respecting  their  age,  I  asked  him  to  inform 
me  when  they  were  set  out  ?  "With  a  quickness  and  naivete, 
which  those  will  appreciate  who  recollect  the  Judge,  he  re- 
plied, ''  I  can't  tell ; — I  can  remember  when  the  trees  were 
smaller  than  they  are  now."  This  was  said  in  1836,  by  a 
man  then  eighty  years  of  age,  and  justifies  the  conclusion 
that  those  trees  too  must  be  the  contemporaries,  if  not  the 
antecedents,  of  this  Church. 

It  would  be  a  pleasant  exercise  for  the  imagination  to  fol- 
low out  the  more  remote  surroundings  of  this  Church,  as 
they  existed  a  hundred  years  ago.  But  this  is  not  the  time 
nor  the  occasion  for  such  a  purpose.  It  is  sufficient  to  say, 
that  almost  everything  of  an  artificial  origin,  is  changed. 
From  the  fourth  or  fifth  agricultural  town  in  this  county, 
Worcester  has  become  the  third  city  of  the  State,  rejoicing 
in  a  population  of  about  thirty  thousand.  Our  gracefully 
rounded  hills,  or  as  Dr.  Dwight  more  graphically  described 
them,  "hills  moulded  into  a  great  variety  and  beauty  of 
forms,"  noticed  by  strangers  as  the  physical  feature  of  our 
city,  still  remain ;  but  instead  of  the  native  forest,  crowned 
with  the  decorations  with  which  the  agriculturist  and  archi- 
tect have  invested  them. 

On  the  south  we  still  have  the  Blackstone  and  its  tributa- 
ries ;  but  instead  of  flowing  sluggishly  along  through  their 
native  forests,  cultivation  has  reached  their  banks,  and,  at 


17 

the  least  fall,  their  waters  are  disturbed  by  the  wheels  of  the 
mechanic  and  the  manufacturer. 

On  the  east  there  meets  the  eye  a  most  beautiful  object 
that  remains  as  it  was,  and  will  remain  forever.  And  if, 
amidst  all  the  changes  in  our  territory,  a  question  should 
ever  arise  as  to  the  identity  of  the  location  of  the  ancient 
and  the  modern  Worcester,  I  can  imagine  no  way  by  which 
that  question  could  be  so  readily  settled,  as  by  reference  to 
our  Lake  Quinsigamond  and  this  ancient  Church. 

As  the  erection  and  first  occupancy  of  this  Church  was  sig- 
nalized by  a  thanksgiving  and  historical  discourse  from  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Maccarty,  the  committee  of  arrangements  thought 
that  its  preservation  for  a  century,  under  circumstances  of 
so  much  favor,  should  be  gratefully  noticed  in  much  the 
same  manner.  At  the  time  the  arrangements  for  this  occa- 
sion were  first  made,  the  pulpit  of  the  parish  was  vacant ; 
since  happily  supplied  by  the  installation  of  the  Eev.  Ed- 
ward A.  Walker,  from  'New  Haven.  And  in  seeking  for  a 
gentleman  to  address  us  on  this  occasion,  and  while  inviting 
home  the  pilgrims  from  this  Church,  you  will  think  it  was 
befitting  that  we  should  invite  to  the  service  a  distinguished 
successor  of  those  Massachusetts  pilgrims,  who  aforetime 
wT.nderei  by  the  "  Connecticut  path,''  over  our  pleasant  hills, 
on  their  way  to  the  Connecticut.  And  I  have  the  pleasure 
to  announce  that  a  discourse  may  be  expected  from  the  Rev. 
Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D.,  of  Kew  Haven. 

The  religious  services  of  the  occasion  will  take  pla(?e, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Walker. 


HISTORICAL  DISCOURSE, 


BY   THE 


REV.  LEONARD  BACON,  D.  D. 


A  hundred  years  ago,  the  people  of  Worcester,  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  their  municipal  powers,  were  building  a  house  for 
the  worship  of  God.  The  structure  "began  to  be  erected  " 
on  the  21st  day  of  June,  and  it  was  occupied  by  the  congre- 
gation on  the  8tli  of  December,  "the  day  of  public  thanks^ 
giving  throughout  the  province."  In  that  house  we  are  as- 
sembled, at  the  invitation  of  its  present  proprietors,  to  recall 
that  year  1763,  to  compare  it  with  this  year  1863,  and  so  to 
realize  the  difference  between  the  world  in  which  we  are 
living  and  the  world  as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago. 

Some  things  remain  unchanged.  "  One  generation  pass- 
eth  away,  and  another  generation  cometh,  but  the  earth 
abideth  forever."  Through  all  that  century  of  years,  nature 
has  moved  in  circles  without  progress.  Year  by  year  the 
seasons  have  kept  their  order ;  and  the  vicissitudes  of  our 
N"ew  England  climate,  vibrating  from  almost  Arctic  cold  to 
almost  tropical  heat,  are  just  what  they  were  in  the  year 
1763.     A  hundred  times  has  winter  covered  the  streams  and 


20 

lakes  with  massive  crystal,  and  spread  tlie  marvellous  beauty 
of  the  snow  over  field  and  forest,  vale  and  hillside.  A 
hundred  times  the  snows  and  ice  have  melted  in  the  breath 
of  spring,  and  vegetation  has  renewed  itself  in  verdure 
and  bloom.  A  hundred  times  the  sultry  summer  has 
brooded  over  the  hills  and  warmed  the  deepest  valleys.  A 
hundred  times  has  summer  ripened  into  autumn,  and  then 

^ '  The  melancholy  days  have  come,  the  saddest  of  the  year, 

Of  wailing  winds,  and  naked  woods,  and  meadows  brown  and  sere." 

yet  ever  cheerful  with  the  garnered  harvest  and  the  feast 
of  the  ingathering.  The  sun  that  shone  upon  our  fathers* 
fathers  shines  upon  their  graves,  and  pours  on  us  from  the 
same  deep  sky  the  same  exhaustless  flood  of  warmth  and 
splendor.  The  new  moon,  waxing  night  by  night  to  com- 
plete its  silver  round,  and  the  full  moon  waning  till  it  dis- 
appears behind  the  sunrise,  are  the  same  as  w^ien  the 
workmen  on  the  Worcester  meeting-house,  a  hundred  years 
ago,  measured  the  months  from  June  to  December.  !N"ature, 
in  its  countless  cycles,  makes  no  progress.  In  its  perpetual 
changes  it  is  perpetually  reproducing  itself.  Its  mutability 
is  the  steady  operation  of  immutable  forces.  The  record 
of  the  rocks,  confirming  the  testimony  of  the  most  ancient 
revelation,  testifies  indeed  that,  from  one  geological  period 
to  another,  creation  was  progressive ;  but  nature  cannot 
create.  Since  the  Creator  rested  from  his  work  and  saw 
that  all  was  good  —  since  man  stood  upright  on  the  earth, 
the  image  of  his  Maker  —  progress  belongs  to  the  history 
of  man  and  of  God's  dealings  with  mankind.  Nature 
to-day,  is  just  what  nature  has  been  ever  since  the  creation 
was  completed.  "  The  sun  ariseth,  and  the  sun  goeth  down 
and  hasteth  to  his  place  where  he  arose.     The  wind  goeth 


21 

toward  the  south,  and  turneth  about  unto  the  north ;  it 
whirleth  about  continually,  and  the  wind  returneth  again 
according  to  his  circuits.  All  the  rivers  run  into  the  sea ; 
yet  the  sea  is  not  full*;  unto  the  place  from  whence  the 
rivers  come,  thither  they  return  again."  "  The  thing  that 
hath  been,  is  that  which  shall  be,  and  that  which  is  done 
is  that  which  shall  be  done,  and  there  is  no  new  thing  under 
the  sun."  In  the  sciences  of  nature,  and  in  the  applications 
and  uses  of  physical  science,  there  is  progress  —  for  science 
is  human  and  enters  into  human  history  ;  but  the  facts  of 
nature  are  as  old  as  the  creation.  The  nature  even  of  man 
remains  unchanged  through  all  human  generations ;  but 
history  is  the  record  of  something  else  than  the  mere  going 
on  of  nature,  and  therefore"  it  is  that  history  never  repro- 
duces itself.  In  proportion  as  man,  by  that  proclivity  to 
barbarism  which  came  with  the  primal  apostacy  of  the  race, 
is  brought  down  to  the  level  of  mere  nature,  and  is  governed 
like  inferior  animals  by  nothing  else  than  natural  laws 
and  impulses,  history  becomes  impossible  ;  for  each  suc- 
cessive year  and  each  successive  generation  repeats  its 
predecessor.  History  concerns  itself  not  with  the  uni- 
formity and  necessary  laws  of  human  nature,  but  with 
events  that  spring  from  man's  intelligence  and  voluntary 
power,  with  the  ever-changing  condition  of  man  in  this 
world,  with  the  diversified  influences  which  act  on  human 
character  and  human  welfare,  with  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
ceaseless  conflict  between  good  and  evil,  with  the  growing 
dominion  of  man  over  the  powers  and  resources  of  nature, 
with  the  moral  and  religious  ideas  and  the  political  institu- 
tions which  elevate  or  depress  nations  ;  and  the  basis  of  its 
unity,  the  essential  dignity  which  makes  it  diflfer  from  a  record 
of  the  weather,  must  be  found  in  the  fact  that,  consciously 


or  unconsciously,  it  records  the  development,  from  age 
to  age,  of  God's  august  providence  over  the  human  race, 
and  of  his  work  of  making  all  things  new. 

What  sort  of  people  were  they  who  assembled  under  this 
roof  on  the  8th  of  December,  a  hundred  years  ago  ?  They 
spoke  our  English  language  ;  they  read  our  English  Bible  ; 
they  worshipped  in  the  name  of  Christ ;  they  held  a  system 
of  religious  doctrines  essentially  the  same  with  the  system 
held  by  those  who  now  worship  in  their  places ;  the  congre- 
gation of  1863  maintains  its  identity  with  the  congrega- 
tion of  1763.  But  they  prayed,  and  read,  and  spoke  with 
phrases  and  pronunciations  which  are  now  antiquated,  and 
which  could  hardly  be  repeated  without  provoking  a  smile. 
They  dressed  according  to  their  means  and  their  several 
stations  in  society,  like  decent  and  christian  people  —  at 
least  they  thought  so ;  but  if  we  could  see  them  to-day, 
just  as  they  were  apparelled  that  day  —  the  men  with 
breeches  and  cocked  hats,  some  with  great  white  wigs, 
some  with  clubbed  hair,  some  with  pig-tails  —  the  women 
with  many  grotesque  deviations  from  the  fashionable  cos- 
tume of  our  day  —  the  sight  would  be  to  us  astonishing. 
The  most  well  dressed  gentleman  in  the  congregation,  or 
the  most  fashionably  attired  lady,  would  hardly  be  present- 
able anywhere  but  at  a  fancy  dress  party,  and  even  there 
would  be  greeted  with  laughter;  just  as  that  thanksgiving 
congregation  a  hundred  years  ago,  would  have  been  over- 
whelmed with  wonder,  and  would  have  lost  their  go-to- 
meeting  gravity,  if  by  some  second  sight  they  could  have 
caught  a  view  of  this  assembly  dressed  in  the  fashions  of 
to-day.  They  came  to  meeting,  some  walking  in  family 
processions  from  one  house  and  another  along  the  village 
street,  others  on  horseback  from  the  farms  —  many  a  wife 


riding  behind  her  husband  on  the  pillion,  many  a  damsel 
behind  her  father  or  her  brother,  probably  none  in  any 
wheeled  carriage  other  than  a  farmer's  wagon.  They  met 
for  their  Thanksgiving  at  the  call  of  a  proclamation  which 
ended  with,  "  God  save  the  King."  In  their  public  worship 
prayers  were  offered  for  the  King  and  Queen  and  royal 
family.  Their  singing  was  in  tunes  which  with  rare  excep- 
tions are  now  long  obsolete,  and  was  performed  without  the 
aid  of  organ,  flute  or  viol.  The  sermons  to  which  they 
ordinarily  listened,  were  in  length,  in  style,  and  to  some 
extent  in  matter,  such  as  would  be  tedious  to  a  congregation 
in  these  days.  The  most  superficial  view  sufiaces  to  make 
us  feel  that,  for  better  or  for  worse,  there  have  been  great 
changes  in  the  world  since  this  "Old  South  Church,"  as  it 
is  now  called,  was  the  new  meeting  house  in  Worcester. 
Three  generations  have  passed,  and  where  are  we  ? 

These  superficial  views,  then,  lead  us  to  graver  thoughts. 
Let  us  remember  more  deliberately  some  of  the  great 
changes  in  which  the  century  has  marked  its  progress.  In 
so  doing,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  think  first  of  the  contrast 
between  now  and  then  in  the  political  conditions  and  rela- 
tions of  our  country ;  for  the  political  history  of  a  country 
is  the  frame  in  which  local  history,  and  all  the  history  of 
opinions,  of  morals,  and  of  religion  must  be  set,  in  order  to 
be  seen  aright. 

Our  ancestors  on  this  continent  had  a  country  of  their 
own  from  the  date  of  their  migration  hither.  As  soon  as 
they  had  put  the  breadth  of  the  Atlantic  between  themselves 
and  their  ancestral  island,  they  felt  that  this  was  their 
country.  The  feeling  grew  when  the  first  tree  of  the 
primeval  forest  fell  before  them  —  when  in  their  first  dwell- 
ings they  established  their  domestic  altars* — when  first  their 


ploughshare  furrowed  the  soil  —  when  first  their  harvests 
ripened  in  the  sultry  air.  The  feeling  that  they  had  acquir- 
ed a  country  of  their  ow^n,  became  more  tenacious  at  every 
stage  of  progress  in  the  formation  of  their  civil  institutions. 
It  gained  hew  strength  and  distinctness  from  every  session 
of  a  court,  from  every  new  precedent  in  the  administration 
of  justice,  from  every  act  of  legislation.  When  they  made 
their  arrangements  for  public  worship  —  when  they  met  in 
their  Sabbath  assemblies  —  when  they  began  to  see  in 
each  settlement  the  meeting-house  rising  in  modest  dig- 
nity among  their  homes  —  the  feeling  that  they  had  ob- 
tained a  new  country,  was  more  and  more  hallowed  by 
religion.  Every  birth,  every  wedding,  every  sod  upon  a 
new  grave,  added  to  the  sanctity  of  the  feeling.  They 
recognized  the  tie  of  a  common  allegiance  which  bound 
them  to  their  kindred  in  the  mother  country ;  they  claimed 
the  name  of  Englishmen,  and  acknowledged  the  king  of 
England  as  their  king ;  but  from  the  day  in  which  Winthrop 
and  his  fleet  sailed  westward  —  nay  even  from  that  earlier 
day  in  which  the  pilgrim  church  at  Leyden  planned  its 
sublime  enterprise  —  they  never  admitted  the  thought  that 
their  'New  England  was  to  be  merely  an  extension  of  Old 
England,  or  was  to  be  colonized  and  governed  in  the 
interest  merely  of  the  English  people.  From  the  first  they 
regarded  this  as  a  distinct  country  to  which  they  had  trans- 
ferred their  citizenship.  Under  their  charters  from  their 
king,  or  without  reference  to  any  charter,  they  claimed  and 
exercised  the  right  of  self-government  as  political  communi- 
ties. The  aspiration  for  a  complete  and  distinct  nationality 
was  inseparable  from  the  design  of  their  migration  hither. 
At  the  same  time  they  recognized  willingly  their  colonial 
relation  to  the  country  from  which  they  came.     They  were 


26 

English,  and  their  new  country  was  New  England.  Old 
England  —  not  Great  Britain,  hut  England  only  —  was  the 
native  seat  of  their  language  and  their  race.  Their  country 
was  not  only  included,  like  Scotland  and  Ireland,  among 
the  dominions  of  the  English  king,  hut  was  more  intimately 
related  to  England  than  to  any  other  of  his  kingdoms  — 
though  they  never  regarded  it  as  subject  to  the  legislation 
of  the  English  Parliament. 

One  incident  of  their  relation  to  their  acknowledged 
sovereign  was  that  they  were  involved  in  all  the  wars  of 
England,  and  especially  in  the  frequent  wars  between  Eng- 
land and  France.  There  was  not  only  a  'New  England  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  but  a  New  France,  also,  which  was 
intended  to  become  a  colossal  Gallic  empire  in  America. 
Between  England  and  France  there  was  a  constant  rivalry 
for  dominion  on  this  continent.  In  four  successive  wars 
during  a  period  of  about  seventy  years,  our  fathers  were 
made  to  feel  their  dependence  on  their  king  and  on  his 
British  subjects  for  protection  against  the  power  of  France. 
The  last  of  these  inter-colonial  wars  ended  in  the  treaty  of 
Paris,  which  was  signed  on  the  10th  of  February,  1763,  and 
which  extinguished  all  the  pretensions  of  France  to  any 
territorial  possessions  on  the  continent  of  ITorth  America. 
It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  with  what  joy  that  treaty  was 
received  in  all  the  English  colonies,  and  most  of  all  in  New 
England,  which  had  suffered  most  and  longest  from  the 
proximity  of  the  French  power  in  Canada.  For  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  it  had  been  a  question,  often  debated  in  war 
as  well  as  in  the  conflicts  of  diplomacy  and  the  councils  of 
ambitious  statesmanship,  whether  these  vast  regions  of  the 
temperate  zone  in  J^Torth  America  should  be  French  or 
English  in  language,  in  the  genius  of  their  civil  institutions, 


and  in  religion.  For  more  than  half  that  period  every 
Indian  outbreak  on  the  frontier,  every  savage  atrocity  of 
rapine  and  slaughter,  had  been  imputed,  whether  justly 
or  unjustly,  to  the  influence,  direct  or  indirect,  of  French 
traders,  French  emissaries,  or  French  Jesuits.  Through 
more  than  the  life  time  of  two  generations  the  growth  of 
the  colonies  in  territorial  expansion,  in  wealth,  in  popula- 
tion, in  all  civilized  and  civilizing  arts,  had  been  hindered 
by  a  series  of  exhausting  wars,  in  which  the  sacrifices  of 
treasure  and  of  blood  were  far  more  disproportioned  to  the 
resources  of  our  fathers,  than  all  the  sacrifices  demanded  in 
the  present  conflict  are  to  ours.  When  the  Treaty  of  Paris, 
signed  and  ratified,  was  duly  published  in  America,  the  joy 
was  universal.  E'ever  in  our  history  had  so  terrible  a  con- 
flict been  brought  to  a  termination  so  triumphant.  A  new 
era  of  peace  and  progress  had  opened.  'No  wonder  that 
immediately  after  the  proclamation  of  that  peace,  the  people 
of  "Worcester  felt  themselves  able  to  build  a  new  and  stately 
house  for  the  worship  of  God. 

That  year  1763  is  a  cardinal  year  in  the  annals  of  our 
country.  Indeed,  our  national  independence  might  be  re- 
garded as  taking  its  origin  from  the  Treaty  of  Paris.  The 
people  of  these  colonies  were  thenceforth  no  longer  depend- 
ent on  their  king  for  protection  against  their  ancient  and 
most  formidable  enemies ;  by  their  own  A^alor,  and  by  the 
voluntary  and  lavish  use  of  their  own  resources  in  their  own 
defence,  they  had  contributed  largely  to  the  extension  of  his 
dominions  ;  they  had  measured  and  improved  their  own 
military  qualities  and  capabilities  by  comparison  and  co- 
operation with  British  regulars ;  and  for  these  reasons  they 
were  more  able  and  not  less  ready  than  at  anj^  former  period 
to  assert  their  hereditary  rights  against  all  attempted  en- 


2T 

croachment  from  the  mother  country.  Doubtless  they  had 
no  expectation  of  any  early  conflict  with  Great  Britain  on 
the  question  of  their  rights,  for  just  at  that  time  the  feeling 
of  loyalty  toward  their  king,  combined  with  the  feeling  of 
a  fraternal  relation  to  the  English  people,  was  naturally 
stronger  and  more  general  throughout  'New  England  than 
ever  before.  But  while  the  extinction  of  the  French  colo- 
nial power  had  lessened  the  dependence  of  the  colonies  on 
Great  Britain,  it  had  also  inspired  the  British  government 
and  the  ruling  and  trading  classes  of  the  British  people 
with  exaggerated  expectations  of  dominion  in  America. 
Immediately  after  the  conquest  of  Canada,  and  even  before 
that  conquest  had  been  confirmed  by  treaty,  a  formidable 
scheme  for  bringing  these  colonies  under  the  legislative 
power  of  the  British  Parliament  began  to  be  unfolded. 
In  the  third  year  after  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  the  passage  of 
the  Stamp  Act  through  the  forms  of  legislation  at  West- 
minster roused  the  continent  to  a  determined  purpose  of 
resistance,  and  called  into  being  a  Congress  of  the  colonies. 
In  the  twelfth  year  of  the  same  era,  a  second  Congress 
uttered  in  behalf  of  the  colonies  a  solemn  and  unanimous 
declaration  of  their  rights,  and  assumed,  as  the  representa- 
tive body  of  the  American  people,  the  function  of  address- 
ing the  king  and  the  people  of  Great  Britain  with  words 
of  free  and  bold  remonstrance.  One  year  later,  the  contro- 
versy became  a  war ;  blood  was  shed  at  Lexington,  at  Con- 
cord, and  at  Bunker  Hill ;  the  Continental  Congress  created 
a  continental  army ;  and  George  Washington  was  Com- 
mander-in-chief. In  the  fourteenth  year,  the  Congress  of 
"The  United  Colonies  "  declared  the  dissolution  of  the  tie 
that  had  connected , these  colonies  with  the  mother  country, 
and  with  a  faithless  king ;  the  Declaration  of  Independence 


26 

was  given  to  the  world ;  and  the  thirteen  stripes,  with  the 
"  new  constellation  "  in  its  azure  field,  became  the  banner  of 
the  Union.     Just  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  year,  France 
publicly  recognized  the  independence  of  the  new  republic; 
and  as  if  in  vengeance  for  the  loss  of  the  hopes  that  had  been 
extinguished  by  the  treaty  of  1763,  that  powerful   nation 
entered  into  an  intimate  alliance  with  the  revolted  colonies 
of  her  ancient  enemy.     Before  the  twentieth  year  had  been 
completed,  the  plenipotentiaries  of  Great  Britain,  and  those 
of  the  United  States,  subscribed  at  Paris  a  treaty  of  peace, 
establishing  the  independence  of  this    nation.     Six  years 
afterwards,  in   the   twenty-seventh  year   of  the  era  which 
began  in  1763,  the   Federal   Constitution,  that  marvel   of 
political  wisdom,  had  been  framed  and  ratified;    and  the 
Colonel  Washington  of  "the  old  French  war  "  was  inaugu- 
rated the  first  President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
In  the  fortieth  year  (1802),  the  empire  of  the  new  republic, 
originally  bounded  by  the  Mississippi  on  the  West,  while  a 
foreign  power  held  and  controlled  the  mouth  of  that  great 
river,  was  enlarged  by  a  peaceful  acquisition,  which  gave  us 
the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  for  our  western 
limit,  and  established  the  power  of  the  Union,  without  a 
rival  or  a  partner,  over  the  ''  father  of  waters  "  from  his  icy 
head-springs  on  the  border  of  the  frozen  zone  to  his  outlet 
in  the  climate  of  perpetual  flowers.     At  the  close  of  the  first 
half  century,  from  1763,  those  former  colonies  to  which  the 
treaty  of  Paris  had  unconsciously  secured  a  virtual  indepen- 
dence, were  in  the  midst  of  a  second  war  with  Great  Britain, 
a  war  provoked  by  the  insolent  aggressions  of  that  power  on 
the  rights  of  neutrals  and  the  freedom  of  the  seas.     I  need 
not  remind  you  of  more  recent  events  in  our  political  his- 
tory ;  nor  of  the  territorial  acquisitions  by  which  our  empire 


has  been  extended  over  a  wider  area  than  the  Roman  eagles 
ever  traversed.  Yet,  as  we  recollect  to-day  what  "Worcester 
was,  and  where  it  was,  when,  in  the  impulse  of  hope  and 
enterprise,  which  went  through  ~^ew  England  from  the  con- 
quest of  Canada,  the  timbers  of  this  house  were  framed  and 
raised,  a  hundred  years  ago  —  as  we  think  what  I^ew  Eng- 
land was,  and  what  America  was  when  first  the  people  met 
for  praise  beneath  this  roof —  we  cannot  but  be  awed  at  the 
strides  Avith  which  the  world's  history  has  been  marching, 
and  especially  at  the  progress  of  history  as  related  to  our 
own  country.  E'or  is  there  any  halt  in  that  majestic  march. 
Wliat  may  have  seemed  to  some  the  portents  of  utter  failure 
and  dissolution,  are  to  a  wiser  faith  the  signs  of  progress. 
Our  country,  ever  since  it  began  the  conflict  for  its  indepen- 
dence, and  even  from  an  earlier  period,  has  carried,  as  if  in 
its  vitals,  a  perilous  disease.  With  that  disease  the  vigor  of 
its  life  has  struggled,  and  we  to-day  are  at  the  crisis.  A 
civil  war  more  stupendous  in  its  proportions  than  any  that 
the  world  has  ever  seen  before  —  a  war  in  which  the  art  of 
war  has  armed  itself  with  new  enginery  of  destruction  and 
of  defense  —  a  war  which,  without  involving  any  other 
nation,  disturbs  the  commerce,  the  industry,  and  the  politi- 
cal hopes  and  fears  of  the  civilized  world  —  is  the  crisis  of 
that  long  disease.  lN"ay,  if  the  crisis  has  been  doubtful,  the 
doubt  is  passing  by.  The  vigor  of  our  national  life  has  van- 
quished the  disease,  and  slaver}^  so  long  our  national  infirm- 
ity and  shame,  is  passing  awa}^  forever. 

The  thought  of  this  great  war  upon  our  soil,  and  of  the 
changes  which  it  has  developed  in  the  art  of  enginery  of  war, 
leads  naturally  to  another  topic  illustrative  of  the  difference 
between  the  world  in  which  we  are  living,  and  the  world  as 
it  was  when  this  house  was  set  on  its  foundations.     Let  us 


m 

think  of  the  contrast  between  then  and  now,  in  respect  to 
the  dominion  of  man  over  the  riches  and  forces  of  nature. 
It  is  a  maxim  of  the  religion  for  which  this  house  was  built, 
that  man  as  created  in  the  image  of  God,  was  created  for 
dominion  over  the  material  world,  and  was  charged  not  only 
to  replenish  the  earth,  but  to  subdue  it.  ^N'or  does  the  Chris- 
tianity of  J^ew  England,  the  religious  faith  in  which  God  is 
worshipped  here,  refuse  to  acknowledge,  that  in  the  con- 
summation of  that  renewing  work  for  which  God  came  into 
the  world  in  the  person  of  his  Son,  the  idea  of  man's  rightful 
dominion  over  this  visible  world,  with  all  its  riches  and  all 
its  capabilities  of  ministering  to  human  welfare,  will  be  com- 
pletely realized.  In  this  respect  the  century,  since  1763,  is 
distinguished  above  every  other  century  on  the  roll  of  his- 
tory. 

Some  deliberate  recollection  will  be  necessary  before  we 
can  comprehend  how  slow  had  been,  through  all  preceding 
ages,  the  progress  of  man's  dominion  over  nature.  Certain 
inventions  essential  to  civilization  are,  of  course,  older  than 
the  dawn  of  history  —  such  as  the  art  of  writing,  the  art  of 
making  cloth  from  wool  and  from  certain  vegetable  fibres, 
the  use  and  fabrication  of  metals,  including  the  reduction  of 
them  from  their  ores,  and  the  art  of  navigation  in  its  earliest 
rudiments.  Certain  tools  are  older  than  history  —  such  as 
the  axe,  the  plough,  and  the  spindle ;  and  certain  mechanical 
powers  —  such  as  the  lever  and  the  screw.  Other  inven- 
tions, less  ancient,  are  yet  so  old  that  their  date  cannot  be 
ascertained  —  such  as  the  pump,  and  the  simple  machinery 
by  which  the  power  of  falling  water,  or  of  the  wind,  was 
applied  +o  the  work  of  turning  a  millstone  for  grinding  corn, 
and  far  older  than  either,  yet  later  than  the  flood,  the  art^of 
making  glass.     But  how  slow  had  been  the  progress  of  inven- 


81 

tion  tlirougli  all  the  ages  of  ancient  civilization  !  How  slow 
the  progress  of  knowledge !  and  especially  of  the  application 
of  knowledge  to  practical  uses,  for  the  common  welfare  of 
mankind  !  The  ancient  civilization  which  fell  in  the  fall  of 
the  Roman  empire,  was  more  inventive  of  luxuries  for  the 
few,  than  of  conveniences  and  comforts  for  the  many.  In 
its  tools  and  implements  of  lahor,  and  especially  in  its  con- 
trivances to  increase  the  productiveness  of  human  labor,  by 
subsidizing  the  forces  of  nature,  it  was  poor.  It  could  build, 
in  its  imperial  magnificence,  temples,  palaces,  aqueducts, 
which  are  even  at  this  day  the  wonder  of  the  world.  Its 
sculpture  too  was  such  as  modern  art  admires  and  imitates, 
with  hardly  a  hope  of  equaling  it.  But  it  had  no  contri- 
vances to  facilitate  the  processes  and  aid  the  efficiency  of 
labor,  to  cheapen  and  multiply  the  ordinary  comforts  of  life, 
or  to  cheer  and  adorn  the  homes  of  the  lowly.  The  new  civi- 
lization which,  slowly  arose  from  the  ruins  of  the  old,  began 
with  no  new  inventions,  and  no  new  subjugation  of  nature 
to  the  service  of  man.  But  in  that  new  civilization  there 
was  a  new  force,  derived  from  the  fresh  vigor  of  the  northern 
races  who  had  conquered  the  Roman  power,  and  were  learn- 
ing to  appropriate  the  arts  as  well  as  the  riches  of  the  empire 
they  had  conquered.  The  Christian  religion,  modified  in- 
deed, and  deformed  with  superstition,  yet  not  wholly  neu- 
tralized by  the  mixture  of  error,  was  working  like  leaven 
among  the  nations  that  had  received  it  with  their  conquests  ; 
and  thus  the  new  civilization  began  to  be,  in  distinction  from 
the  old,  a  Christian  civilization. 

Yet  it  is  only  within  the  last  hundred  years,  that  the  dis- 
tinctive character  of  the  Christian  civilization,  as  related  to 
the*physical  condition  of  mankind,  lias  been  clearly  devel- 
oped.    When  the  first  worshipping  assembly  was  gathered 


82 

in  this  house,  the  age  of  those  inventions  which  characterize 
our  civilization,  had  not  yet  begun  to  dawn.  The  progress 
of  knowledge  and  of  art,  since  the  downfall  of  the  Roman 
empire,  had  contributed  only  a  few  inventions  to  alleviate 
the  burthen  of  human  labor,  to  multiply  the  comforts  of 
human  life,  and  to  extend  and  establish  man's  dominion 
over  nature.  What  were  the  chief  of  those  inventions  in 
more  than  a  thousand  years  of  history  ?  The  invention  of 
gunpowder  had  given  to  mankind  a  new  force,  not  only  for 
destruction,  but  for  a  thousand  peaceful  uses.  The  inven- 
tion of  clocks  and  watches  had  been  substituted  for  the  more 
awkward  methods  by  which  the  ancients  measured  and 
marked  the  divisions  of  the  day,  and  had  contributed  to  the 
advancement  both  of  astronomical  science  and  of  the  art 
of  navigation,  while  at  the  same  time  it  had  been  ma- 
king men  feel  the  value  of  the  hours  and  the  virtue  of 
punctuality.  The  invention  of  the  telescope  had  given  a 
new  character  to  astronomy  and  a  new  impulse  to  all  science. 
The  mariner's  compass  had  made  it  possible  for  ships  to 
strike  out  boldly  into  unknown  seas,  to  discover  unknown 
lands,  to  sail  around  the  globe,  and  by  giving  an  indefinite 
enlargement  to  commerce,  had  contributed  indefinitely  to 
the  riches  of  the  world.  When  this  house  was  built,  the  art 
of  printing,  without  any  material  improvement  since  the  age 
of  Guttenburg,  had  been  slowly  demonstrating,  for  about 
three  hundred  years,  the  possibility  of  a  universal  diffusion 
of  knowledge.  The  physical  sciences,  as  inaugurated  by  the 
author  of  the  Novum  organum,  had  hardly  begun  to  yield 
their  fruits  in  practical  contributions  to  the  uses  of  human 
life ;  and  science  and  industry  had  not  yet  learned  their 
legitimate  relations  to  each  other.  The  world  had  not  yet 
found  out,  what  is  now  so  widely  understood,  that  in  the 


83 

sciences  of  nature  every  discovery  has  its  use  in  some  prac- 
tical invention. 

But  how  rapid  has  been  the  progress  of  discovery  and 
invention  since  this  house  first  received  under  its  roof  a 
worshipping  assembly.  At  that  very  time  Arkwright,  in 
England,  was  toiling  to  perfect  his  spinning  machine,  which 
four  years  afterwards  became  successful,  and  begun  to  be  a 
power  in  the  productive  industry  of  England.  The  inven- 
tion of  the  steam  engine  having  been  long  in  progress,  be- 
came a  fact  in  1765 ;  but  what  the  steam  engine  was  to  do 
in  the  world  —  to  what  infinitely  diversified  uses  it  would  be 
applied  —  not  even  the  genius  of  Watt,  the  final  inventor, 
could  have  conjectured.  In  1783,  John  Fitch,  of  Connecti- 
cut, exhibited  an  abortive  steamboat  on  the  Delaware,  at 
Philadelphia  ;  but  it  was  not  till  1807,  that  Eobert  Fulton, 
of  liennsylvania,  after  many  years  of  toilsome  and  baffled 
endeavor,  succeeded  in  converting  the  dream  into  a  reality, 
and  launched  upon  the  Hudson  a  vessel,  which  was  actually 
propelled  by  the  steam  engine,  and  which  stemmed  the  cur- 
rent from  l^ew  York  to  Albany  in  thirty-three  hours  ;  but 
if  any  man  even  then  had  predicted  the  results  of  that  inven- 
tion as  they  exist  to-day,  he  would  have  seemed  insane  to 
men  of  common  sense.  A  hundred  years  ago,  Franklin  had 
already  made  the  discovery  [1750]  which  identified  the  elec- 
tric spark  with  the  lightning,  and  had  applied  it  in  his  inven- 
tion of  the  lightning-rod  ;  but  what  else  was  soon  to  be  dis- 
covered in  the  same  direction,  what  other  identities  then 
unsuspected  would  soon  be  brought  to  light,  and  what  results 
were  "to  come  of  such  discoveries,  none  could  dream.  A 
hundred  years  ago  the  nations  of  Eastern  Asia  had  been 
clothed  through  immemorial  ages  in  cotton  fabricated  by 
the  simplest  processes  of  manual  labor  ;  and  cotton,  indige- 


34 

nous  also  on  this  continent,  was  beginning  to  be  manufac- 
tured by  similar  processes  in  Europe  ;  but  the  material 
whether  imported  from  India  or  from  America,  was  too 
costly  for  universal  use.  Two  years  later,  Eli  Whitney  was 
born  in  a  neighboring  town,  almost  within  the  sound  of  the 
Worcester  meeting-house  bell ;  and  he,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven  [1798],  invented  the  machine  which  separates  the  fibre 
of  cotton  from  the  seeds.  But  little  did  he  then  dream  of 
the  results  which  were  to  come  from  his  cotton-gin.  'No 
human  mind  could  have  conjectured,  sixty-five  years  ago,, 
that  in  consequence  of  that  invention,  taken  in  connection 
with  others,  cotton  would  become  a  power  in  commerce,  in 
politics,  in  the  counsels  of  diplomacy,  in  literature,  in  morals, 
and  even  in  religion  —  would  be  proclaimed  a  king  —  would 
even  be  worshipped  as  a  god  sitting  in  the  temple  of  God  — 
would  domineer  with  growing  insolence,  till  at  last,  m  the 
height  of  its  power,  it  should  fall  as  other  tyrants  fall,  and, 
instead  of  defying  God  and  man  with  its  impiety,  should 
thenceforth  be  counted  among  the  humblest  of  God's  crea- 
tures, and  should  minister  with  due  tractableness  to  ,the 
universal  welfare  of  mankind.  The  plant  which  in  conse- 
quence of  Whitney's  invention  has  been  for  a  time  the  great 
support  of  slavery  in  its  cruelties  and  its  insolence,  is  now 
becoming,  in  the  farther  development  of  consequences  from 
the  same  invention,  a  powerful  auxiliary  of  liberty  and  of 
the  world's  progress.  Having  gained  its  dominion  by  be- 
coming a  necessity  of  the  civilized  world,  it  is  losing  that 
dominion  to-day,  for  the  very  reason  that  the  civilized  world 
cannot  be  without  it,  and  will  not  be  enslaved  by  it.  The 
demand  for  it  in  the  markets  of  the  world  is  even  now  begin- 
ning to  work  for  the  opening  of  Africa  to  a  new  and  civiliz- 
ing commerce,  for  the  development  of  new  industry  and  of 


35 

a  better  civilization  in  India,  for  the  establishment  of  new 
commercial  relations  and  mutual  dependencies  throughout 
the  globe.  As  the  first  century,  since  1763,  has  demonstrated 
the  power  of  cotton  and  slavery,  so  the  coming  century  is  to 
show  the  power  of  cotton  and  liberty  ;  for  liberty  at  last  has 
snatched  that  mighty  instrument  from  the  grasp  of  slavery. 

Other  illustrations  of  what  the  century  has  contributed  to 
the  progress  of  the  civilizing  arts,  and  of  man's  dominion 
dVer  nature,  crowd  upon  us.  Think  how  much  successive 
inventions  have  done,  within  the  last  hundred  years,  for  the 
art  of  printing.  Think  how  the  art,  which  for  more  than 
three  hundred  years  after  the  date  of  its  invention,  made  no 
considerable  progress,  has  found  new  methods  and  new 
enginery,  till  it  is  now  multiplying  and  cheapening  books 
beyond  all  calculation,  inundating  the  world  with  periodical 
issues  of  innumerable  sorts,  and  making  the  newspaper, 
with  its  assorted  and  accumulated  intelligence  from  all  quar- 
ters of  the  globe,  a  daily  visitant  in  millions  of  families. 
The  science  of  chemistry  had  not  been  born  in  1763.  Twenty 
years  later,  a  few  experimenters  in  France  and  England,  and 
in  some  other  countries,  were  just  beginning  to  be  successful 
in  their  exploration  of  mysteries  which  had  formerly  been 
left  in  the  keeping  of  quacks  and  jugglers.  But  what  con- 
tributions has  chemistry  made  since  then,  to  the  world's 
riches,  and  to  the  resources  and  results  of  industry  ?  "What 
has  it  done  for  agriculture  and  for  the  manufacturing  arts, 
multiplying  and  diversifying  the  products  and  increasing 
the  facilities  of  labor.  One  single  achievement  of  chemistry 
—  now  so  familiar  to  us  that  it  has  ceased  to  be  a  wonder  — 
would  not  have  been  credited  if  predicted  a  hundred  years 
ago,  unless  the  prediction  had  been  attested  by  a  miracle  : — 
Almost  all  the  cities  of  the  civilized  world  and  in  our  own 


36 

country  how  many  villages  and  even  isolated  dwellings,  are 
illuminated  at  niglit  by  a  method  which  in  former  ages 
would  have  seemed  more  marvellous  than  magic.  Bub- 
stances  have  been  utilized,  and  have  become  great  staples  of 
commerce  and  manufacture,  which,  a  few  years  ago  were 
worthless.  The  India-rubber  gum,  now  applied  to  innumer- 
able uses,  and  recognized  as  necessary  in  a  thousand  ways 
to  human  comfort,  had  grown,  and  exuded,  and  slowly 
decayed  in  tropical  forests,  ever  since  the  creation  of  the 
world  ;  and  nobody  had  known  what  it  was  good  for.  But 
Charles  Goodyear,  of  Connecticut,  about  thirty  years  ago, 
devoutly  believing  that  God  had  not  made  such  a  substance 
in  such  quantities  for  nothing,  humbly  resolved  that,  God 
helping  him,  he  would  find  out  what  it  was  made  for ;  and 
then  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  prophet  and  the  patience  of  a 
martyr,  pursued  his  researches  under  the  depressing  force 
of  poverty,  and  continual  disappointment,  and  contempt,  and 
reproach,  and  imprisonment  for  debt,  and  keen  domestic 
grief,  till  at  last  nature  betrayed  her  secret  to  him,  and  the 
world  was  thenceforth  the  richer  for  all  his  years  of  labor 
and  of  sorrow.  Railways  had  never  been  imagined  at  the 
close  of  the  old  French  war,  nor  for  a  long  time  afterwards, 
but  railways  are  less  wonderful  to  us  than  a  good  turnpike 
road  would  have  been  to  the  builders  of  this  house  ;  and 
such  rates  and  distances  of  locomotion  as  devout  and  learned 
men  in  the  year  1800  would  hardly  have  thought  possible 
even  in  the  millennium,  (there  being  no  distinct  chapter  and 
verse  of  Scripture  to  warrant  the  idea)  seem  to  our  young 
people  as  much  a  thing  of  course  as  a  horseback  journey  at 
the  rate  of  thirty  miles  a  day  seemed  to  their  great-grand- 
parents a  hundred  years  ago.  ^ay,  a  generation  is  already 
growing  up,  in  whose  eyes  the  magnetic  telegraph,  flashing 


37 

its  messages  a  thousand  miles  with  instantaneous  communi- 
cation, and  reporting  to  us  in  tlie  morning  what  happened 
yesterday  in  California,  is  no  more  wonderful  than  the  mag- 
netic needle  pointing  northward  ;  and  to  whom  the  photo- 
graphic art,  scattering  its  exquisite  pictures  through  all  our 
dwellings, 

"  Thick  as  autumnal  leaves  that  strow  the  brooks 
In  Vallom^rosa," 

seems  as  little  to  be  astonished  at  as  the  reflection  from  a 
looking  glass. 

It  is  not  merely  for  the  sake  of  an  impressive  contrast 
between  the  present  and  the  past  that  I  refer  you  to  these 
facts,  but  rather  for  the  sake  of  demonstrating  the  progress 
which  Christian  civilization  has  made  within  the  last  hun- 
dred years  toward  the  promised  restoration  of  man's 
dominion  over  the  riches  and  the  powers  of  the  natural 
world.  There  is  a  grand  significance  in  these  facts  as 
related  to  the  future.  If  we  hold  that  barbarism  came  into 
the  world  with  that  apostasy  from  God  which  degraded  man 
from  his  original  lordship  over  nature  —  if,  kindling  with 
the  prophetic  hope  that  glows  alike  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  JS'ew,  we  hear  Him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne  pro- 
claiming along  the  course  of  time,  "Behold  I  make  all 
things  new  "-^  if,  in  fellowship  with  prophets  and  apostles, 
we  see  all  arts,  all  sciences,  all  commerce,  all  civilization,  all 
improvements  and  alleviations  in  the  condition  of  mankind, 
subordinated  and  made  subservient,  in  God's  j^rovidence,  to 
the  moral  and  spiritual  renovation  of  the  world  —  if  we  see 
in  all  these  things  not  only  the  effect  of  Christianity  infused 
into  the  life  of  nations,  but  the  arrangements  which  God  is 
making  for  the  universal  prevalence  and  glory  of  his  king- 
dom in  the  hearts  of  men — we  cannot  but  be  conscious  of  a 


38 

deep  religious  awe  as  we  think  of  the  changes  which  distin- 
guish the  century  since  1763,  above  all  other  centuries,  as 
the  period  of  advancement  ^n  the  sciences  of  nature  and  in 
those  inventions  by  which  the  riches  and  the  powers  of 
nature  are  made  available  for  the  welfare  of  mankind. 

If  now,  remembering  the  changes  to  which  we  have 
adverted,  we  imagine  to  ourselves  again  the  congregation 
which  worshipped  under  this  roof  on  the  8th  of  December,  a 
hundred  years  ago,  another  view  of  the  contrast  between 
them  and  us,  arrests  our  thoughts.  I  have  no  time  to  speak 
in  detail,  nor  you  to  hear,  of  the  progress  which  our  country 
has  made  in  wealth  within  the  last  hundred  years.  Yet 
you  will  allow  me  to  detain  you  on  this  topic  for  a  moment, 
because  here  too  are  facts  and  principles  prophetic  of  the 
future. 

What  was  the  aggregate  wealth  of  Worcester  —  the  tax- 
able property  if  you  please  —  as  compared  with  the  popula- 
tion, in  1763  ?  And  what  is  it  in  1863  ?  But  Worcester,  it 
may  be  said,  is  exceptional ;  it  has  suddenly  grown  into  a 
city  and  must  not  be  taken  as  a  specimen.  Look,  then,  at  a 
larger  area.  What  was  the  aggregate  wealth  of  Massachu- 
setts as  compared  with  the  population,  a  hundred  years  ago  ? 
And  what  is  it  now  ?  Or,  taking*  a  still  wider  view,  what 
was  the  average  wealth  of  every  man,  woman  and  child  in 
the  thirteen  colonies,  a  hundred  years  ago  ?  And  what  is 
the  average  wealth  of  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the 
thirty-five  United  States  to-day,  after  all  the  destruction 
wrought  by  this  stupendous  civil  war  ?  I  make  no  answer 
to  these  questions.  Let  it  suffice  to  ask  them.  The  statis- 
tics would  be  dry  and  wearisome.  The  questions  them- 
selves, without  any  consultation  of  statistical  tables,  over- 
whelm us   with   the   contrast  between   the   riches   of   the 


39 

American  people  now  and  the. poverty  of  our  fathers  three 
generations  ago.  Any  attempt  to  express  the  difference  in 
sums  of  money  would  simply  bewilder  us. 

But  there  is  an  easier  and  more  satisfactory  way  of  con- 
ceiving the  difference.  Think  again  of  the  people  who 
came  together  in  this  house  on  tlie  day  when  it  was  first 
opened  for  the  celebration  of  the  thanksgiving.  What 
notions  had  they  as  to  the  necessaries  and  ordinary  comforts 
of  civilized  life  ?  What  sort  of  houses  did  they  inhabit  ? 
In  what  style  were  their  houses  finished  and  furnished? 
What  did  they  eat  and  drink,  and  wherewithal  were  they 
clothed  ?  How  much  tea  and  coffee,  and  how  much  sugar 
did  each  family  consume  in  a  year  ?  How  many  silk  dresses, 
new  and  old,  were  there  in  towm  ?  How  many  families  were 
there  that  had  ever  thought  of  aspiring  to  the  possession  of 
a  carpet  ?  Doubtless  there  were  in  some  rich  houses  costly 
sets  of  china,  but  how  many  families  were  there  that  drank 
from  pewter  cups  and  ate  from  wooden  trenchers  ?  How 
many  wheeled  carriages  were  there  in  the  whole  town,  and 
of  what  description  ?  How  many  people  were  there  who 
had  ever  carried  an  umbrella,  and  how  many  girls  that  had 
ever  heard  of  a  parasol  ?  How  many  pianos  were  there  in 
the  town,  or  spinnets,  or  guitars,  or  other  instruments  of 
music  additional  to  the  drums  and  fifes  that  had  so  lately 
learned  to  play  Yankee  Doodle  in  the  conquest  of  Canada? 
Spinning  wheels  —  the  large  one  for  wool  and  the  little  one 
for  flax  —  were  in  every  inventory  of  household  goods,  and 
in  the  outfit  of  every  bride  ;  but  where  was  there  a  sewing 
machine  ? 

This  last  question  touches  the  root  of  the  difference. 
Spinning  wheels  have  disappeared  from  all  families,  because 
all  spinning  is  now  performed  elsewhere  at  a  cheaper  rate 


40 

by  water-power  or  steam-power  propelling  curious  ma- 
chinery. A  hundred  years  ago,  the  era  of  machinery  had 
not  yet  begun.  With  a  few  exceptions,  chiefly  of  a  primitive 
sort,  all  productive  labor,  mechanical  and  agricultural,  was 
performed  by  animal  strength,  human  and  brutal,  and  with 
the  aid  of  tools  or  implements  comparatively  clumsy.  But 
now  —  and  in  this  new  and  free  country  of  ours  above  all 
others  —  all  human  industry  is  supplemented  by  the  giant 
forces  of  nature  tamed  and  harnessed  for  labor.  The  water 
wheel  and  the  steam  engine  are  doing  what  millions  upon 
millions  of  hands  could  not  have  done  a  century  ago  in  the 
production  of  wealth.  And  not  only  so,  but  the  strength 
of  human  muscles  and  the  deft  nimbleness  of  human  fingers 
are  continually  becoming  incalculably  more  ef&cient  by  the 
introduction  of  new  mechanical  contrivances.  The  in- 
creased production  of  wealth  by  the  use  of  sewing  machines 
in  families  and  in  all  sorts  of  workshops  where  stitches  are 
made,  if  it  could  be  gathered  year  by  year  into  one  great 
fund,  would  pay  in  a  few  years  all  the  debt  which  this  rebel- 
lion is  imposing  on  the  nation. 

Who  then  can  tell  us  what  our  posterity  will  not  have  seen 
at  the  end  of  another  century  ?  The  progress  of  invention 
is  not  yet  completed.  On  the  contrary,  more  minds  of 
high  order  than  ever  before  are  at  this  moment  investigat- 
ing every  possible  application  of  science  to  the  processes  of 
industry  and  the  creation  of  wealth,  ^^obody  dares  to  pro- 
nounce any  attempt  chimerical,  unless  it  contradicts  the 
known  laws  of  nature.  The  invention  of  machinery  and  of 
other  contrivances  in  the  productive  arts  has  become  a 
recognized  profession  like  civil  engineering.  Who  shall  set 
any  limit  to  this  work  of  subduing  the  earth  and  of  appro- 
priating   its    exhaustless    resources?      The   superiority   of 


41 

Christian  nations  over  all  barbarous  and  semi-barbarous 
races  is  to  be  more  and  more  developed  ;  and  the  riches  are 
to  be  created  by  which,  if  we  do  not  misinterpret  the  reve- 
lation of  God's  plan,  these  nations  are  not  only  to  be  ad- 
vanced beyond  all  former  experience  of  what  Christian 
civilization  may  be,  but  are  to  spread  the  glory  and  the  effi- 
cacy of  the  gospel  through  the  world. 

And  now  how  shall  I  speak  of  the  changes  which  the  cen- 
tury has  wrought  in  the  Church  of  Christ  ?  Permit  me  to 
reverse  the  method  which  I  have  ventured  to  use  thus  far, 
and  which  has  not  contributed  so  much  as  I  hoped  it  would 
to  the  brevity  of  my  discourse.  Instead  of  referring  to  the 
general  history  of  our  country  and  of  the  world  for  the 
illustration  of  what  has  been  going  on  here,  we  may  now 
take  the  local  history  as  an  illustration  of  the  general. 
The  comparison  between  the  condition  and  relations  of  this 
Church  as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago  and  the  condition  and 
relations  of  this  Church  as  it  now  is,  may  be  taken  as  illus- 
trating the  progress  which  the  universal  Church  of  Christ 
has  made  in  this  country  and  in  all  lands  during  the  same 
period. 

Can  the  Church  remain  on  its  foundations  —  can  it  retain 
its  faith  and  its  influence  —  while  such  changes  have  been 
taking  place  in  the  condition  of  the  country  and  of  the 
civilized  world  ?  This  Puritan  Massachusetts,  instead  of 
being,  as  it  was  in  1763,  a  colonial  dependency  of  the 
British  sovereignty,  is  now  a  proud  free  commonwealth,  a 
loyal  and  equal  member  of  the  great  Union  that  spans  the 
continent  with  its  arch  of  empire.  Wars,  revolutions,  the 
overthrow  of  dynasties,  and  the  growth  and  decay  of  em- 
pires, have  been  changing  the  map  of  the  world  ever  since 
the  century  began  ;  and  at  this  moment  the  civil  war  which 


42 

convulses  our  nation  is  felt  through  the  world.  Forces  that 
had  no  recognized  existence  a  century  ago,  are  revolutioniz- 
ing the  industry  of  Christendom  and  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  and  are  extending  indefinitely  the  dominion  of  man 
over  material  nature.  The  unprecedented  increase  of  wealth, 
especially  in  our  own  country,  is  producing  a  style  of  civili- 
zation and  a  condition  of  society  never  known  before.  The 
world  is  seething  and  fermenting  with  the  effects  which  such 
changes  are  bringing  to  pass  in  the  habits  and  opinions,  the 
manners  and  morals,  the  aspirations  and  hopes,  of  all 
nations.  Many  are  running  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge  is 
increased  ;  the  domain  of  science  is  extended  in  every  pos- 
sible direction ;  and  everywhere,  as  at  Athens  in  the  days  of 
Paul,  there  are  many  w^ho  seem  to  "  spend  their  time  in 
nothing  else  but  either  to  tell  or  to  hear  some  new  thing." 
How  fares  the  Church  in  this  crisis  of  history  ?  Does  it 
maintain  its  faith  and  testimony  ?  Does  it  retain  its  influ- 
ence ?  Does  it  remain  stationary  amid  all  changes,  like  an 
old  hulk  moored  in  the  current  on  which  everything  is 
passing  by  ?  Let  us  try  these  questions  by  recollecting  some 
of  the  changes  which  this  church  has  undergone  since  it 
began  to  worship  under  the  roof  that  shelters  us  to-day. 

Of  course  the  external  and  incidental  things  of  public 
worship  are  liable  to  change  in  changing  times.  The  build- 
ing itself  has  been  altered.  Its  foundations,  its  frame,  its 
roof,  and  its  spire  remain.  Its  architecture,  in  contrast  with 
the  more  solid  and  more  splendid  structures  of  the  present 
age,  tells  us  of  other  days.  But  the  men  who  built  it,  after 
the  most  approved  models  of  the  New  England  metropolis, 
with  the  pulpit  window  on  one  side,  and  with  the  salient 
entries  at  the  two  ends  and  on  the  other  side,  with  square 
pews  and  high  galleries,  with  no  arrangement  for  warming 


43 

it  in  winter  and  no  lecture  room,  with  lofty  pnlpit  and 
a  conspicuous  "  elder's  seat  "  facing  the  congregation  in 
official  dignity,  —  would  hardly  know  their  own  work  could 
they  see  it  now.  What  would  pastor  and  deacons,  and  all 
the  gray  haired  men  and  women  of  1763,  have  said  if,  in 
prophetic  vision,  they  could  have  seen  an  organ  here  ?  One 
of  the  earliest  changes  after  the  completion  of  this  house 
was  i^  the  mode  of  singing.  Is  it  not  written  in  Lincoln's 
History  of  Worcester  ?  A  controversy  had  -  agitated  the 
community  for  forty  years,  beginning  with  the  question, 
"In  which  way  the  congregation  shall  sing  in  future, 
whether  in  the  ruleable  way,  or  in  the  usual  way  " — wheth- 
er in  conformity  to  the  rules  of  musical  art,  with  life  and 
spirit,  and  with  something  of  harmony, —  or  in  the  drawling 
and  inharmonious  method  of  a  dead  tradition.  From  one 
step  of  the  conflict  to  another,  the  obstinacy  of  the  conserv- 
ative element  resisted  the  impulsiveness  of  the  progressive 
element.  At  the  end  of  forty-three  years  it  was  voted  in 
town  meeting,  [May  1769]  "that  the  elder's  seat  be  used  for 
some  persons  to  lead  the  congregation  in  singing."  Four 
years  afterwards,  there  was  a.  modest  attempt  to  recognize 
the  institution  of  a  choir  of  singers,  but  it  was  not  till  six- 
teen years  after  the  building  of  this  house,  that  the  old  tra- 
ditions were  finally  and  ignominiously  vanquished.  Three 
votes  in  a  town  meeting,  made  the  record  of  the  victory. 
"  Voted  that  the  singers  sit  in  the  front  seats  of  the  front 
gallery,  and  that  said  singers  have  said  seats  appropriated  to 
said  use.  Voted  that  said  singers  be  requested  to  take  said 
seats  and  carry  on  singing  in  public  worship.  Voted  that 
the  mode  of  singing,  in  the  congregation  here,  be  without 
reading  the  psalms,  line  byline,  to  be  sung."  As  if  to  make 
the  victory  absolute,  it  came  to  pass,  on  the  ensuing  Sabbath, 


44 

that  when  the  psalm  had  been  announced  and  read  as  usual 
by  the  pastor,  a  venerable  deacon,  insisting  on  his  tradition- 
ary prerogative,  begun  to  dole  it  out  in  the  old  way,  line  by 
line,  for  the  singers ;  but  his  voice  as  he  attempted  to  pro- 
ceed was  drowned  by  the  triumphant  choir,  and  the  baffled 
deacon  retired  from  the  meeting-house  in  tears.  The  organ 
was  only  one  remote  result  of  that  revolution. 

These  are  only  a  specimen  of  the  changes  in  respect  ^  the 
external  things  of  public  worship,  which  have  taken  place, 
within  a  hundred  years,  throughout  our  country.  Church 
edifices  are  more  convenient  and  comfortable  than  formerly, 
often  more  splendid,  sometimes  even  luxurious  in  their  fin- 
ish and  their  furniture.  Church  music  though  often  rude 
enough,  is  in  a  state  of  constant  revolution,  and  aspires  to  be 
tasteful  and  impressive.  The  order  of  public  worship  is 
getting  to  be  a  theme  of  inquiry  and  discussion  ;  and  almost 
every  young  minister  has  his  own  scheme  of  further  reform- 
ation. Conservative  men  may  do  well  to  ask  whether  there 
is  not  a  growing  tendency  in  the  Church  of  all  names  to 
make  public  worship  an  imposing  performance  —  a  luxury 
—  a  fine  art,  instead  of  simple  prayer  and  praise  ;  but  no- 
body dares  propose  to  go  backward  and  restore  the  external 
things  of  our  worship  just  as  they  were  in  1763. 

Some  changes  there  have  been  in  the  style  of  preaching, 
and  some  in  the  matter  of  the  sermons.  To  me  personally 
there  is  something  of  an  autumn  feeling  in  the  fact  that  of 
the  eight  successive  pastors  who  have  ministered  in  this 
house,  I  have  had  some  acquaintance  with  all  but  the  first. 
As  for  that  first  preacher  in  this  house,  whose  death  was 
alniost  eighty  years  ago,  the  preciousness  of  his  mem- 
ory among  his  people  is  testified  by  the  monumental  tablet 
continually  before   the  congregation.      In   his   theological 


45 

system  he  appears  to  have  been  a  Calvinist  of  what  was  then 
the  old  school.  The  plirase  by  which  the  first  President  Ad- 
ams described  him, "  Though  a  Calvinist,  not  a  bigot,"  is  high- 
ly suggestive.  He  was  not  of  the  anti-Cal  vinistic  party  which 
had  already  become  strong  in  Massachusetts ;  and  on  the 
other  hand  he  was  not  of  the  party  whose  more  intense  and 
logical  style  of  Calvinism  was  called  "jN'ew^  Divinity,"  and 
who  were  one  and  all  bigots  in  the  sight  of  such  men  as 
John  Adams.  His  theory  of  the  Christian  doctrines  would 
seem  to  have  been  just  that  which  was  held  at  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  his  life-time.  His  immediate  successor,  Samuel 
Austin,  was  of  a  different  school.  The  younger  Ed- 
wards had  been  his  pastor  and  his  theological  teacher. 
He  was  a  ^ew  Divinity  Calvinist,  a  man  of  strong  opinions 
on  all  the  legitimate  themes  of  preaching ;  and  his  preach- 
ing was  of  that  sort  which  permits  no  hearer  to  be  indiffer- 
ent. The  next  pastor,  Charles  A.  Goodrich,  and  the  next, 
Ar^tius  B.  Hull,  were  beloved  pupils  of  the  illustrious 
Dwight,  in  whose  theology  the  more  violent  statements  and 
unswerving  conclusions  which  had  made  the  "  I^ew^  Divin- 
ity "  obnoitious  to  so  many  minds,  were  wisely  mitigated. 
Good  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  were  they,  worthy  to  be 
loved  and  reverenced  for  their  work's  sake,  and  worthy  to 
be  had  in  everlasting  remembrance.  The  four  that  have 
followed  them  in  this  succession  are  all,  save  one,  among 
the  living.  But  of  their  teaching  from  this  pulpit  I  may  say 
two  things  :  First,  they  all  have  held  and  taught  essentially 
the  same  system  of  religious  truth  —  the  same  revelation  of 
God  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  to  himself — which  all 
their  predecessors  held  and  taught  before  them  ;  and  second- 
ly, the  differencs  eamong  them  and  their  predecessors,  in 
their  several  ministrations  of  the  one  gospel,  are  a  sufficient 


46 

demonstration  that  Christianity  —  Orthodox  Christianity,  if 
you  please — is  not  a  dead  and  petrified  tradition,  not  a 
syntagma  of  hard  dogmas  that  must  not  be  examined  and 
cannot  be  proved,  not  an  iron  cage  in  which  minds  that 
ought  to  be  free  are  imprisoned  —  but  a  body  of  truth  touch- 
ing the  deepest  and  most  vital  wants  of  human  nature,  and 
stimulating  all  sorts  of  minds  to  free  and  manly  thought  on 
the  most  momentous  themes  that  can  be  brought  within  the 
reach  of  the  human  intelligence.  The  modern  study  of  the 
Scriptures  by  devout  scholars  admits  and  traces  out  the  fact, 
rarely  noticed  in  earlier  times,  that  each  of  the  Apostles 
whose  writings  instruct  us  concerning  the  personal  charac- 
ter and  human  life  of  Christ  and  the  grace  and  truth  that 
came  by  him,  received  the  inspired  and  inspiring  truth  into 
his  own  molds  of  thought,  g.nd  each  gives  it  out  to  us  in  his 
own  peculiar  forms  of  conception  and  of  illustration.  Thus,  in 
the  last  analysis  of  the  'New  Testament  Scriptures,  we  find 
not  only  that  each  of  the  four  Gospels  presents  the  one  per- 
sonal Savioilr  from  its  own  point  of  view,  and  makes  its  own 
contribution  to  the  completeness  of  our  acquaintance  with 
him  whom  to  know  is  eternal  life,  but  also  that  the  con- 
oious  or  unconscious  crystalization  or  system  of  Christian 
thought  in  the  mind  of  each  Apostle  is  peculiar  to  himself. 
Even  so  the  one  Grospel,  immutable  in  its  objective  reality, 
is  in  some  degree  variously  conceived  and  illustrated  not 
only  according  to  the  characteristic  genius  of  difiterent  lan- 
guages and  nations,  and  according  to  the  progress  of  human 
thought  in  the  successive  centuries  of  time,  but  also  accord- 
ing to  the  idiosyncrasies  of  individual  minds.  Change  in- 
deed is  not  always  for  the  better  ;  and  there  may  be  chang- 
es in  the  manner  and  the  matter  of  preaching  which  seem 
to  be  improvements,  but  are  in  reality  disastrous  to  the 


47 

interest  of  truth  and  of  salvation.  However  it  may  be  with 
the  successive  changes  since  first  the  gospel  sounded  in  this 
house,  we  know  that  in  proportion  as  the  mind  of  the 
preacher,  filled  with  the  love  of  Christ  and  with  the  sense 
of  things  not  seen,  brings  the  mind  of  the  hearer  into  direct 
communication  with  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Scriptures 

—  in  proportion  as  the  preacher  and  hearers  learn  to  in- 
quire not  what  the  technical  words  of  human  wisdom  teach 
in  some  catechism  or  confession,  but  simply  what  the  Holy 

■  Ghost  teacheth  in  the  infallible  record  —  in  proportion  as 
preacher  and  hearers  escape  from  the  habit  of  interpreting 
the  Scriptures  by  some  human  standard,  and  learn  to  meas- 
ure and  test  all  systems  of  theology  by  the  Scriptures  —  in 
proportion  as  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  makes  men  con- 
scious of  their  need  as  sinners  and  shows  them  plainly, 
intelligibly,  and  practically,  what  they  must  do  to  be  saved, 

—  in  that  proportion  there  is  progress. 

In  respect  to  another  change  there  is  no  room  for  any 
doubt  among  us.  A  hundred  years  ago  there  was  only  one 
church  in  Worcester,  and  the  church  stood  in  an  intimate 
relation  of  dependence  on  the  town.  The  duty  of  support-, 
ing  public  worship  was  recognized  by  the  laws  as  a  jjoliticaj^ 
duty,  and  the  town  as  a  political  body  had  a  voice  in  religi- 
ous and  ecclesiastical  questions.  In  a  little  more  than 
twenty  years  after  the  building  of  this  house,  a  separation 
from  the  worship  here  was  instituted  on  the  principle  of 
voluntary  association  for  the  support  of  religious  institu- 
tions ;  and  in  the  year  1787  the  Second  Parish  was  recog- 
nized by  law.  To  that  second  parish  let  the  praise  be  freely 
awarded,  which  it  claims,  of  having  inaugurated  in  the 
country  towns  of  Massachusetts  the  principle  on  which  all 
churches  in  the  United  States  now  stand, —  the  principle 


45 

that  the  support  of  public  worship  is  not  properly  a  political 
but  a  religious  duty  ;  or  in  other  words  that  while  the  sup- 
port of  public  worship  is,  like  worship  itself,  a  duty  incum- 
bent on  all,  it  is  also,  like  worship  itself,  a  duty  to  be  volun- 
tarily and  freely  rendered.  By  the  establishment  of  that 
principle,  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  State,  and  to  all 
subordinate  bodies  properly  political,  has  been  materially 
changed.  And  how  much  has  Christianity,  as  a  power  in 
society,  gained  by  that  revolution  ?  How  could  the  church- 
es of  Massachusetts  (for  example,)  have  sustained  themselves 
in  the  conflict  about  the  moral  character  of  the  institution 
of  slavery,  if  the  free  action  of  churches  and  pastors  had 
been  constantly  embarrassed  by  a  dependence  on  town 
meetings  or  on  any  other  municipal  authority  ?  All  history 
shows  that  the  power  of  the  church,  as  a  Divine  institution 
bearing  witness  for  truth  and  righteousness,  is  limited  and 
restrained  instead  of  being  aided  by  political  alliances. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  absolute  freedom  of  the 
American  churches  augments  beyond  all  calculation  the 
power  of  their  testimony  on  every  moral  question. 

But  not  only  has  the  relation  between  the  Church  and 
the  State  been  changed  ;  there  has  been  a  no  less  significant 
change  in  the  purely  ecclesiastical  relations  of  this  ancient 
Church.  A  hundred  years  ago  there  was  only  one  church 
in  Worcester,  and  that  one  church  was  strictly  Congrega- 
tional in  its  forms  and  Calvinistic  in  its  statements  and 
illustrations  of  Christi'an  doctrine.  How  different  are  its 
relations  now  !  ^N'ot  only  is  it  surrounded  by  other  churches 
holding  the  same  forms  and  traditions  with  itself,  but  also 
by  churches  that  worship  the  one  God,  through  the  one  Me- 
diator between  God  and  men,  in  other  forms,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  other  traditions  doctrinal  and   ecclesiastical.     I 


49 

am  not  going  to  imply  that  the  diversity  of  Christian 
churches,  with  their  separation  from  each  other  under 
various  sectarian  names  and  banners,  is  good  in  itself.  But 
this  I  am  sure  of :  In  the  existing  condition  of  Christian- 
ity, the  multiplicity  and  diversity  of  churches,  notwith- 
standing all  the  narrowness  on  one  side  or  the  other  which 
produces  schism  among  those  who  ought  to  tolerate  each 
other  in  the  same  communion,  is  favorable  to  liberty  of 
individual  thought  and  conscience  among  Christians.  Will 
any  man  deny  that  it  has  been  so  here  ?  Can  any  fail  to  see 
what  the  tendency  is  ?  When  the  Edwardean  Calvinist  and 
the  Wesleyan  Arminian,  having  drawn  apart  into  separate 
bodies,  are  compelled  to  recognize  each  other  as  "  evan- 
gelical "  and  as  holding  the  essential  things  in  the  doctrine 
that  is  according  to  godliness,  theology  has  made  great 
progress  in  spite  of  theologians  ;  and  men  begin  to  see  in 
what  direction  lies  the  path  to  visible  unity  among  believers 
in  Christ. 

There  is  yet  another  and  perhaps  still  more  significant 
change  in  the  position  and  relations  of  the  Church.  What 
were  the  charities  and  the  aggressive  enterprises  of  this 
Church  a  hundred  years  ago  ?  How  far,  and  in  what  meth- 
ods, did  it  recognize  the  essential  aggressiveness  of  Chris- 
tianity as  related  to  the  misery,  the  ignorance  and  the 
wickedness  of  the  world  ?  In  those  days  the  Church  cared 
for  itself  and  for  all  who  dwelt  within  its  parochial  bound- 
aries. Beside  the  ministration  of  the'word  in  two  services 
of  public  worship  every  Lord's  day,  there  was  the  monthly 
lecture  preparatory  to  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper ; 
there  was  the  regular  catechising  of  the  children  in  the 
form  of  the  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism ;  there  were 
neighborly  charities  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  or  the  afflict- 


50 

ed  ;  and  the  pastor  of  the  Church,  being  also  an  officer  and 
servant  of  the  town,  regarded  every  family  in  the  town,  and 
every  individual,  as  under  his  official  care,  so  that  every 
house  received  his  official  visits.  What  was  there  more 
than  this  ?  There  was  prayer  and  aspiration  for  the  coming 
of  God's  kingdom.  There  lingered,  doubtless,  in  many 
hearts  a  tradition  of  the  labors  which  Eliot  performed  a 
hundred  years  before  among  the  heathen  between  Worcester 
and  Boston  ;  and  some  elderly  people  retained  a  vivid  recol- 
lection of  how  the  saintly  Brainerd,  whose  biography  was  a 
fresh  and  popular  religious  book,  had  worn  himself  out  with 
toil  and  hardship  among  the  Indians  just  this  side  of 
Albany  and  on  the  line  of  communication  between  l^ew 
York  and  Philadelphia.  Some  there  may  have  been  to 
whom  the  experiment  which  had  been  for  thirty  years  in 
progress  at  Stockbridge,  and  in  which  so  distinguished  a 
man  as  Jonathan  Edwards  had  labored  for  a  while,  was 
suggestive  of  great  things  yet  to  be  attempted  in  behalf  of 
the  heathen  world.  But  how  unlike  is  the  remembrance  of 
what  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  to  the  present  position  of 
this  Church,  and  of  every  Christian  church  in  this  land,  as 
related  to  the  world  that  "lieth  in  wickedness!"  How 
unlike  to  the  aggressive  activity  of  Christianity  as  now 
developed  here  and  everywhere !  The  idea  of  enterprise 
and  action  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  the  diffusion  of 
Christian  influences  far  and  near,  and  for  the  conversion  of 
all  men  ^'from  darkness  to  light  and  from  the  power  of 
Satan  unto  God,"  has  become  in  all  free  countries,  and  in 
proportion  to  their  freedom,  the  most  obvious  and  impres- 
sive distinction  between  the  churches  as  they  are  and  the 
churches  as  they  were  a  hundred  years  ago. 

The  change  to  w^hich  we  are  now  adverting  becomes  more 


61 

significant  to  our  thoughts  as  we  remember  where  this 
Church  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  where  it  is  now.  In 
1763  the  western  limit  of  Christendom,  on  this  parallel  of 
latitude,  was  between  Albany  and  Utica,  about  two  hundred 
miles  from  the  meridian  of  "Worcester.  All  beyond  to  the 
Pacific  ocean  was  savage  paganism  ;  and  in  all  that  ocean 
there  was  not  one  green  isle  that  had  received  the  law  of 
God.  ^ew  England  was  then  upon  the  western  frontier  of 
the  Christian  world.  And  where  are  we  now  ?  Christian 
civilization  with  its  Bible,  with  its  Sabbaths,  with  its  schools, 
with  its  temples,  with  the  tree  of  life  whose  leaves  are  for 
the  healing  of  the  nations,  has  extended  itself  westward 
beyond  the  Allcghanies,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  beyond  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  Along  the  rushing  waters  of  the  Ore- 
gon, and  where  the  sun,  rising  from  behind  the  sierras  of 
California,  goes  down  into  the  western  ocean,  there  are 
Christian  homes  and  Christian  temples.  Still  farther  west 
the  "  island- world  "  of  the  Pacific  is  receiving  the  gospel; 
and,  farther  yet,  the  light,  in  its  circuit  round  the  globe,  is 
dawning  on  the  oldest  orient.  Protestant  missionaries  are 
invading  the  remotest  and  most  barbarous  lands ;  and  all 
the  languages  of  the  earth  are  receiving  the  gift  of  letters 
that  they  yma  record  the  oracles  of  God,  and  are  becoming 
musical  with  worship  ofifered  in  the  name  of  Christ.  In  no 
period  of  the  same  duration  since  the  age  of  the  Apostles 
has  there  been  so  great  an  extension  of  Christianity  as  in  the 
century  since  1763. 

What  then  may  we  not  hope  for  in  the  future  ?  Some  of 
our  grandchildren  will  be  living  in  the  sixty-third  year  of 
the  twentieth  Christian  century.  What  revolutions  of 
empire  they  will  have  seen ;  what  progress  will  have  been 
made  in  the  recovery  of  man's  dominion  over  nature ;  what 


52 

wealth,  derived  from  sources  and  productive  powers  not  yet 
discovered,  will  then  adorn  the  earth ;  what  victories  will 
have  been  gained  over  human  misery  and  wickedness  for  the 
kingdom  of  Christ,  it  is  not  for  us  to  know.  But  we  know 
that  God's  work  of  making  all  things  new  is  not  yet  com- 
pleted. That  great  work  of  God,  now  advancing  with 
accelerated  movement,  will  proceed  along  the  ages,  subor- 
dinating to  itself  the  growth  and  decay  of  nations,  the 
vicissitudes  of  war  and  peace,  the  progress  of  human  know- 
ledge and  of  arts  that  minister  to  human  welfare,  as  well  as 
the  aspirations  and  endeavors  of  all  godlike  souls,  —  till 
earth  and  heaven  worshipping  in  one  grand  chorus,  and 
reflecting  to  each  other  the  glory  of  their  Maker,  shall  keep 
the  Sabbath  of  the  new  creation. 

Some  things,  I  said,  remain  unchanged.  Pastors  and 
teachers  die,  and  their  memory  lingers  for  a  while  in  loving 
hearts  and  then  becomes  traditionary  ;  but  while  ye  remem- 
ber them  who  have  had  the  rule  over  you,  who  have  spoken 
to  you  the  word  of  God,  while  ye  follow  their  faith  consid- 
ering the  end  to  which  their  life  of  faith  has  led  them,  ye 
remember  also  that  "  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday, 
to-day,  and  forever."  Successive  generations  in  the  Church 
move  onward  to  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the 
first-born,  but  the  Church  of  God  remains, 

"  Nor  can  her  firm  foundations  move, 
Built  on  his  truth,  and  armed  with  power." 

\v  We  who  keep  this  festal  to-day  are  soon  to  disappear,  for 
^'  all  flesh  is  grass  and  all  the  goodliness  thereof  is  as  the 
flower  of  the  field.  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth ; 
but  the  word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever."  Heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass  away,  but  thy  word,  0  Christ,  shall  not  pass 
away!  "And  this  is  the  word  w^hich  by  the  gospel  is 
preached  unto  you." 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES  II  THE  CHURCH, 


1. — Voluntary,  on  the  Organ,  by  Mr.   H.  L.  Ainsworth,  the 
Organist  of  the  Church. 

2. — Introductory  Eemarks, — By  Hon.  Ira  M.  Barton,  the  Pres, 
ident  on  the  occasion. 

3. — Chant,  by  a  select  Choir  in  the  antiphonal  or  responsive 
manner  of  the  most  ancient  Church,  A.  D.  500. 

Psalm  XLVI. 

1.  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  ver^y  present  help  in  trouble. 

2.  Therefore  we  will  not  fear,  though  the  earth  be  removed, 

And  though  the  mountains  be  carried  into  the  midst  of  the  sea, 

3.  Though  the  waters  thereof  roar  and  he  troubled. 

4.  Though  the  mountains  shake  with  the  swelling  thereof. 

5.  There  is  a  river ^  the  streams  whereof 
Shall  make  glad  the  city  of  God  ; 

6.  The  holy  place  of  the  tabernacles  of  the  Most  High. 

7.  God  is  in  the  midst  of  her ;  she  shall  not  be  moved. 

8.  God  shall  help  her,  and  that  right  early. 

9.  The  heathen  raged,  the  kingdoms  were  moved  ; 
He  uttered  his  voice,  the  earth  melted. 

10.  The  Lord  of  Hosts  is  with  us  ;  the  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge. 

11.  Come  behold  the  works  of  the  Lord, 

What  desolations  he  hath  7nade  in  the  earth. 

12.  He  maketh  wars  to  cease  unto  the  end  of  the  earth, 
He  breaketh  the  bow,  and  cutteth  the  spear  in  sunder ; 
He  burneth  the  chariot  in  the  fire. 

13.  Be  still,  and  know  that  I  am  God. 

14.  I  will  be  exalted  among  the  heathen, 
I  will  be  exalted  in  the  earth. 

15.  The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us  ; 
The  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge. 

16.  The  Lord  of  Hosts  is  with  us  ; 

The  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge.  Amen. 


54 

.    4. — Invocation,  By  the  Pastor,  Eev.  E.  A.  Walker. 

5. — Hymn,  lined  off  to  the  Congregation,  by  Dea.  Allen  Har- 
ris, in  the  "usual  way"  of  A.  D.  1763. 

Ps.  103 — verses  17  to  22  inclusive.     New  England  Psalm  and  Hymn  Book, 
1762. 

Tune — "Windsor," — Called  in  the  Seottisli  books  of  Psalmody,  "Dundee." 

1.  Who  fear  the  Lord,  his  mercy  is 

On  them  from  aye  to  aye  ; 
So,  likewise  doth  his  righteousness 
On  children's  children  stay. 

2.  To  such  as  keep  his  cov'nant  sure. 

Who  do  in  mind  up  lay 
The  charge  of  his  commandment  pure. 
That  it  obey  they  may. 

3.  The  Lord  hath  in  the  heavens  high 

Established  his  throne  ; 
And  over  all  his  royalty  • 

Doth  bear  do-min-i-on. 

4.  0  ye  his  angels  that  excel 

In  strength,  bless  ye  the. Lord, 
That  do  his  word,  that  hearken  well 
Unto  the  voice  of  's  word. 

5.  All  ye  the  armies  of  the  Lord 

0  bless  Jehovah  still : 

Ye  ministers  that  do  accord 

His  pleasure  to  fulfill. 

6.  Yea,  all  his  works  in  places  all 

Of  his  do-min-i-on. 
Bless  ye  Jehovah  :  0  my  soul, 
Jehovah  bless  alone. 

6. — Reading  op  the  Scriptures,  by  the  Pastor. 
7.  Prayer,  by  Rev.  Seth  Sweetser,  D.  D. 


55 

8. — Hymn,  by  the  Choir,  with  accompaniments  of  stringed  instru- 
ments, in  the  manner  of  A.  D.  1800. 

A  Version  of  Psalm  XLIV. —  Tune,  Northfield. 

1.  Lord,  we  have  heard  thy  works  of  old — 

Thy  works  of  power  and  grace, 
When  to  our  ears  our  fathers  told 
The  wonders  of  their  days  ; 

2.  How  thou  didst  build  thy  churches  here  ; 

And  make  thy  gospel  known  ; 
Among  them  did  thine  arm  appear, 
Thy  light  and  glory  shone. 

3.  In  God  they  boasted  all  the  day. 

And  in  a  cheerful  throng 
Did  thousands  meet  to  praise  and  pray 
And  grace  was  all  their  song. 

4.  As  thee,  their  God,  our  fathers  owned 

So  thou  art  still  our  King ; 
0,  therefore,  as  of  old  to  them, 
To  US  deliverance  bring. 

9_ — Discourse,  by  Eev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D. 
10.— Prayer,  by  Eev.  Willard  Child,  D.  D. 
11. — Hymn,  written  for  the  occasion,  by  Mrs.  E.  A.  Walker,  and 
sung  by  the  choir,  with  organ,  in  the  manner  of  A.  D.  1863. 


66 


Tune — "  Antho,"  composed  by  Edward  Hamilton  Esq.,  the  Musical  Director. 

1.  The  Aloe,  in  the  Northern  clime, 
Gathers,  its  strength  from  sun  and  rime^ 
Transmuting  into  healing  leaves 
Whate'er  from  Nature  it  receives. 

2.  But  not  until  a  hundred  years, 
The  glory  of  its  life  appears. 

The  sweetness,  treasured  hour  by  hour, 
The  Ceutury  crowns  with  perfect  flower. 

3.  And  thus  our  ancient  Church  0,  Lord  ! 
Has  scattered  healing  leaves  abroad  ; 
A  hundred  years  its  influence  bless. 
Thousands  its  saving  power  confess. 

4.  0,  let  this  natal-day  behold 

Its  strength  and  fragrance  all  unfold ; 

Accept  the  glory  of  its  days, 

The  blossom  of  its  garner'd  praise. 


DOXOLOGY. 

Congregation  join.  —  Old  Hundred.  « 

Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessing  flow, 
Praise  him  all  creatures  here  below. 
Praise  Him  above  ye  heavenly  Host, 
Praise  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost. 

12. — Benediction,  by  the  Pastor. 

The  church  was  quite  filled  by  a  large,  intelligent,  and  much 
interested  audience.  The  choir  under  the  direction  of  Edward 
Hamilton,  Esq.,  consisted  of  about  forty  members,  invited  from 
the  different  choirs  of  the  city,  and  their  iDcrformances  gave  great 
satisfaction  to  the  audience. 


APPENDIX. 


1 — Proceedings   of    the  Parish,   and   of  the   Committee 
OF  Arrangements. 

At  the  Annual  meeting  of  the  Parish,  March  30,  1863,  it  was 
voted  to  choose  a' committee  of  seven,  to  see  what  action  (if  any) 
the  Parish  would  take  for  the  proper  observance  of  the  Centennial 
Anniversary  of  the  erection  of  their  meeting  house ;  to  report 
at  an  adjourned  meeting.  And  Col.  James  Estabrook,  Dea.  Al- 
len Harris,  Daniel  Ward,  Dea.  Caleb  Dana,  Dea.  Eichard  Ball, 
Samuel  A.  Porter,  and  Daniel  Tainter,  were  chosen. 

At  the  adjournment,  the  committee  reported  in  favor  of  the 
commemoration  of  the  event;  that  a  committee  of  fifteen  should 
be  appointed  to  make  all  fit  and  proper  arrangements  for  the  occa- 
sion ;  and  that  as  the  expense  must  be  very  considerable,  it  s'nould 
be  defrayed  by  subscription  This  report  was  accepted,  and  the 
following  committee  appointed  :  Col.  Janies  Estabrook,  Dta. 
Allen  Harris,  Dea.  Richard  Ball,  Daniel  Ward,  Waterman  A. 
Fishei*,  Samuel  A.  Porter,  Calvin  Taft,  Aury  G.  Coes,  George  A. 
Chamberlain,  William  G.  Moore,  Dexter  H.  Perry,  Dea.  Charles 
A.  Lincoln,  Franklin  Whipple,  William  D.  Holbrook,  and  John 
Boyden.  To  these  were  added  Dea.  Caleb  Dana  and  Ira  M. 
Barton. 

The  Committee  met  in  the  Chapel  May  7,  1863,  and  organized 
by  appointing  Col.  James  Estabrook,  Chairman,  and  William  D. 
Holbrook,  Secretarj'. 

Ira  M.  Barton,  Allen  Harris  and  Caleb  Dana,  were  chosen  a 
committee  to  procure  a  person  to  deliver  a  discourse  on  the  pro- 
posed occasion ;  to  divide  the  committee  of  seventeen  into  appro- 
priate sub-committees  and  report  at  an  adjournment,  May  21st. 


68 

They  accordingly  reported  in  favor  of  dividing  the  committee  of 
arrangements  into  sub-committees,  upon  the  following  subjects, 
and  such  committees  were  appointed,  to  wit : 

ON   COLLECTING   FACTS : 

Allen  Harris,  Ira  M.  Barton, 

Daniel  Ward,  Caleb  Dana, 

George  A.  Chamberlain. 

ON    INVITATIONS  : 

Caleb  Dana,  Waterman  A.  Fisher, 

Samuel  A.  Porter,         Eichard  Ball, 
James  Estabrook. 

ON   DINNER   AND   LEVEE  : 

Eichard  Ball,  Charles  A  Lincoln, 

Waterman  A.  Fisher,       Calvin  Taft, 
Samuel  A.  Porter. 

ON   MUSIC  : 

John  Boyden,  Wm.  D.  Holbrook,  Franklin  Whipple. 

ON    FINANCE  : 

Calvin   Taft,  Wm.  G.  Moore, 

Charles  A.  Lincoln,        Aury  G.  Coes, 
Allen  Harris,  Dexter  H.  Perry. 

The  general  committee  also  appointed  Ira  M.  Barton  as  Presi- 
dent for  the  occasion,  and  Col.  James  Estabrook,  Marshal,  with 
John  Boyden  and  Samuel  A.  Porter,  and  such  others  as  the  Mar- 
shal might  designate,  as  assistants.  Subsequently,  the  following 
gentlemen  were  so  designated  as  Assistant  Marshals  :  William  D. 
Holbrook,  William  H.  Jacobs,  John  D.  Lovell  and  Jonathan  B. 
Sibley. 

At  adjournments  of  the  General  Committee,  the  following  gen- 
tlemen were  appointed  Vice  Presidents  :  Henry  Goulding,  Osgood 
Bradley,  Luther  Stone,  Henry  Prentice,  Stephen  Taft,  Dana  H. 
Fitch,  Alfred  Parker,  Luke  B.  Witlierby,  Dr.  J.  E.  Linnell,  Au- 
gustus N.  Currier,  Daniel  Tainter,  Waltej:"  E.  Bigelow,  Samuel 
Smith  an^i  Simeon  Clu])])."^- yg^jt t( tCl     'if  /^^/^t. 

The  Eev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D.  of  New  Haven,  Conn,  was 
unanimously  chosen  to  deliver  a  discourse;  and  Tuesday,  Septem- 
ber 22,  1863,  at  10 J,  A.  M.,  was  appointed  the  time  for  the  servi- 
ces in  the  Parish  Church. 

The  committee  on  invitations,  with  the  approbation  of  the  gen- 


59 

eral  committee,  issued  notes  of  invitation  to  the  several  classes  of 
persons  referred  to  by  the  President  in  his  introductory  remarks, 
to  which  there  was  a  liberal  response  either  in  person  or  by  letter. 

y 

NOTE   Ojj^  INVITATION. 

CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION. 

Worcester,  Sept.  1st,  1863. 
To 

Dear  Sir  : 

The  First  Church  and  Parish  of  the  City  of  Worcester  will 
commemorate  the  One  Hundreth  Anniversary  of  the  erection  of  their  present 
House  of  Worship,  by  a  Centennial  Celebration,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of 
September,  instant. 

A  discourse  will  be  delivered  on  the  occasion  by  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D. 
D.,  of  New  Haven,  Conn. 

Services  at  the  church  will  commence  at  10^  o'clock,  A.  M. 
The  undersigned,  in  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  respectfully 
and  cordially  invite  you  to  be  present  and  unite  with  us  in  the  services  and 
festivities  of  the  occasion. 

CALEB  DANA, 
SAMUEL  A.  PORTER, 
JAMES  ESTABROOK, 
W.  A.  FISHER, 
RICHARD  BALL. 


Committee  on 
Invitations. 


The  committee  were  also  authorized  to  present  tickets  for  the 
dinner  to  the  choir,  and  to  aged  and  infirm  members  of  the  church 
and  parish. 

The  Committee  of  Arrangements  met  in  the  Chapel  on  Monday, 
Sept.  28,  1863. 

On  motion  of  I.  M.  Barton,  it  was  unanimously  voted,  that  the 
thanks  of  this  committee  be  presented  to  the  Eev.  Dr.  Bacon  for 
his  valuable  and  interesting  Discourse,  delivered  on  the  occasion  of 
the  hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  erection  of  the  House  of  Wor- 
ship of  the  First  Parish  in  Worcester,  and  that  he  be  requested  to 
furnish  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

On  motion  of  Dea.  Kichard  Ball,  I.  M.  Barton,  Dea.  Allen 
Harris  and  Dea.  Caleb  Dana  were  chosen  a  committee  to  commu- 
nicate the  above  vote  to  Dr.  Bacon,  and  also  to  publish  his  Dis- 
course and  the  proceedings  of  the  occasion. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements, 
they  voted  that  the  following  matter  be  embraced  in  the  publica- 
tion.    In  addition  to  the  introductory  remarks  of  the  President, 


6d 

and  the  Order  of  Exercises  in  the  Church,  an   Appendix,  embra- 
cing, 

1.  An  epitome  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Parish  and  Committee. 

2.  Sentiments  and  proceedings  at  the  table  after  dinner. 

3.  Proceedings  in  Mechanics  Hall. 

4.  Historical  Notes. 

2. — Exercises  at  the  Dinner  Table. 

After  the  services  in  the  church,  the  invited  guests  and  holders 
of  tickets,  under  the  direction  of  the  marshal  and  his  assistants, 
proceeded  to  the  Bay  State  House  for  dinner. 

An  agreeable  re-union  was  had  in  the  saloons  of  the  Hotel,  and 
at  three  o'clock,  P.  M.,  the  company,  consisting  of  about  three 
hundred  gentlemen  and  ladies,  sat  down  at  dinner;  the  blessing 
being  invoked  by  the  Kev.  Dr.  Alonzo  Hill,  the  minister  of  the 
Second  Parish. 

The  exercises  after  dinner,  commenced  with  the  remark  of  the 
President,  that  having  occupied  the  attention  of  the  company  so 
long  in  the  church,  the  residue  of  their  time  belonged  to  their 
respected  invited  guests;  from  as  many  of  whom  as  practica- 
ble, we  were  all  desirous  of  hearing.  Before,  however,  giving  sen- 
timents calling  for  particular  responses,  he  desired  to  give  utter- 
ence  lo  one,  which  in  the  present  exigency  of  the  country, 
and  upon  all  occasions,  whether  grave  or  festive,  was  first  and 
uppermost  in  his  own  mind,  and  to  which  he  knew  that  the  whole 
company  would  very  heartih^  respond.  Our  former  respected  min- 
ister, the  Rev.  Horace  James,  is  at  his  chosen  post  of  duty,  as 
Chaplain  of  our  25th.  Eegiment  of  Volunteers  ;  and  a  large  number 
of  the  young  men  of  our  pai'ish,  with  many  comrades  from  the 
other  parishes  of  the  city,  early  volunteered  in  defence  ot  the 
Union,  and  as  our  first  sentiment,  we  give  you, 

1.  Our   Country  and  its  brave  defenders. 

The  President  then  remarked,  that  the  favor  with  which  the 
sentiment  was  received,  indicated  that  the  company  regarded  dis- 
loyalty to  the  Union  as  treason  ;  and  if  so,  a  want  of  proper 
respect  for  our  City  Government,  must  be,  at  least,  petit  treason- 
As  the  representative  of  that  government,  we  are  happy  to  recog. 
nize  the  presence  of  our  Ma^'or,  with  his  predecessors,  and  it  is  a 
pleasant  fact,  for  the  truth  of  which  we  have  the  satisfactory  testi- 
mony of  his  honored  mother,  that  he  is  a  lineal  descendant,  on  the 


61 

maternal  side,  of  those  distinguished  benefactors  of  the  Old  South, 
the  Judges  Chandler;  bearing  the  Christian  name  of  one  who 
was  long  a  prominent  member  of  that  parish,  and  subsequently  the 
principal  founder  of  the  Central  Church.  In  the  expectation  that 
we  may  hear  from  him,  we  give  you  as  a  sentiment, 

2.  Our  City  Government : 

Identified  with  no  particular  sect ;  by  supporting  public  order, 
they  cherish  and  sustain  all. 

His  Honor,  Daniel  Waldo  Lincoln,  the  Mayor  of  the  Citj^,  respon- 
ded to  this  sentiment,  remarking,  that  with  a  slight  variation  of 
dates,  this  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  erection  of  the  Church  of 
the  first  parish,  would  answer  for  the  hundred  and  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  incorporation  of  the  town  of  Worcester,  with 
which  the  parish  was  originally  identified  ;  concluding  with  a  sen- 
timent of  respect  for  its  founders  and  friends. 

It  is  befitting  that  we  should  now  hear  from  the  distinguished 
first  Mayor  of  our  city.  We  might  allude  to  the  high  executive 
and  judicial  ofiices,  which  he  long  and  ably  sustained  in  the  Com- 
monwealth. But  on  this  occasion,  we  have  to  speak  of  him  as  our 
former  local  Chief  Magistrate.  And  of  his  services  in  that  behalf, 
it  is  but  just  to  say,  that  as  the  first  Mayor  of  the  city,  he  gave 
the  form  and  direction  to  the  administration  of  our  city  govern- 
ment, that  have  commended  it  to  the  continued  favor  of  our  citi- 
zens. We  have  received  a  whole  handful  of  sentiments,  compli. 
mentary  to  our  honored  guest,  but  none  to  which  this  company 
will  more  heartily  respond,  than  the  simple  aspiration  for 

3.  The  prolonged  life  and  health  of  Ex-Governor  Lincoln. 

To  this  sentiment  the  venerable  ex-Governor  responded  with  the 
buoyancy  of  youth,  and  the  wisdom  of  age.  Amongst  his  recol- 
lections, those  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Austin,  w^ho  was  installed  as  the 
minister  of  the  Old  South  in  1790,  were  peculiarly  interesting. 
He  described  the  Doctor  as  having  been  a  "  perfect  Boanerges"  in 
the  pulpit;  while  out  of  it  he  was  much  addicted  to  the  peaceful 
pursuits  of  agriculture,  and  was,  by  no  means,  unmindful  of  the 
amenities  of  social  life.  Of  the  successor  of  Dr.  Austin,  the  Rev. 
Charles  A.  Goodrich,  he  spoke  as  a  man  of  fine  taste,  and  one  of 
the  most  amiable  men  in  the  world.  But  the  ex-Governor  ingen- 
uously stated  the  fact,  that  in  his  younger  days,  when  a  member 
of  the  Bar,  he  had  been  the  counsel  of  Mr.  Goodrich  in  some  unfor- 


m 

tunate  difficulties,  so  that  his  auditors  might  judge  what  deduction 
if  an}',  should  be  made  from  his  favoring  testimony,  on  account  of 
his  relation  to  his  client. 

The  President  then  adverted  to  the  fact  appearing  elsewhere  in 
these  proceedings,  that  nearly  all  the  clergymen  of  the  Old  South 
had  been  drawn  from  the  state  of  Connecticut  and  Yale  College; 
and  amongst  them,  the  last  but  not  the  least,  the  present  incum- 
bent of  the  pulpit.  This  fact  no  doubt  suggested  the  following 
sentiment,  which  the  company  will,  at  once,  recognize  as  coming 
from  one  of  the  ancient  and  patriotic  members  of  our  Home 
Guards. 

4.  The  State  of  Connecticut  and  Yale  College. 

They  have  generously  supplied  our  Church  and  Parish  with  many 
worthy  pastors ;  but  they  have  always  been  careful  to  keep  in 
reserve  a  powerful  home  force. 

By  this,  the  President  remarked,  the  author  of  the  truthful  sen- 
timent, no  doubt  meant,  that  with  all  their  liberality  in  supplying 
others  with  ministers,  they  had  always  managed  to  save  their 
Bacon. 

To  this  sentiment  the  Kev.  Dr.  Bacon,  notwithstanding  his  inter- 
esting service  of  two  hours,  in  the  pulpit,  responded  with  the 
ability  and  aptitude,  for  which  he  is  always  and  everywhere  dis- 
tinguished on  such  occasions. 

The  President  resumed,  saying  that  it  had  been  customary  to 
award  to  the  Old  South  the  honor  of  the  maternity  of  the  other 
parishes  in  the  city.  If  so,  the  second  parish  must  be  regarded  as 
her  first  born.  At  first,  not  cherished  with  the  utmost  afi'ection, 
but  set  out  in  much  the  same  way  that  Abraham  and  his  wife  set 
out  Hagar.  Not  that  this  people  became  Ishmaelites.  For  though 
they  soon  became  a  strong  people,  they  have  always  dwelt 
amongst  their  brethren  of  different  persuasions,  in  great  social 
harmony. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  Second  Parish,  incorporated  in 
1787,  has  had  but  two  pastors,  the  Eev.  Aaron  Bancroft,  D.  D. 
and  the  present  incumbent  of  the  pulpit.  And  it  is  difficult  to  say 
which  we  most  admire,  the  devotion  of  these  distinguished  clergy- 
men to  their  people,  or  the  constancy  and  liberality  of  their  people 
in  sustaining  them.  The  name  of  Dr.  Bancroft  has  gone  into  the 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  country.     His  successor  still 


63 

lives  and  labors,  enjoying  the  respect  of  us  all.     You  will  cordi- 
ally respond  to  the  sentiment, 

5.  The  Second  Church  and  Parish. 

Distinguished  for  their  able  and  peaceful  pastorates.  May  they 
long  continue  to  rejoice  in  the  light  of  their  city  set  on  a  Hill. 

The  Kev.  Alonzo  Hill,  D.  D.,  the  minister  of  the  second  Congre- 
gational and  first  Unitarian  parish,  responded  to  this  sentiment. 

In  answer  to  the  note  inviting  his  presence  on  the  occasion,  the 
Dr.  said,  1  am  glad  you  are  to  commemorate  the  building  of  your 
Meeting  House,  one  hundred  years  ago.  It  will  be  our  commemo- 
ration as  well  as  j^ours;  for  the  ancestors  of  my  parishioners  were 
then  of  your  parish,  and  took  a  part  in  the  erection  of  your  edifice. 
We  are  your  child,  though  somewhat  stubborn  and  wayward  you 
may  have  deemed  us. 

I  thank  you  for  your  courtesy,  and  shall  take  pleasure  in  uniting 
in  the  services  and  festivities  of  the  occasion. 

In  the  course  of  some  interesting  remarks.  Dr.  Hill  said,  that 
though  they  felt  an  interest  in  the  material  of  the  Old  South 
they  felt  a  much  greater  one  in  the  respect  and  good  will  of  its 
proprietors.  And  in  the  larger  charity  of  the  age,  he  hoped  that 
we  might  all  be  united  in  an  earnest  and  common  faith,  which 
shall  sustain  us  in  the  impending  trials  of  the  country. 

The  Chair  next  alluded  to  the  Central  Church  as  the  second 
child  of  the  Old  South.  The  names  of  Waldo,  Salisbury  and 
McFarland,  are  signalized  as  the  munificent  benefactors  of  this 
church.  Its  ministry  commenced  with  the  Kev.  Loammi  I. 
Hoadloy,  succeeded  by  the  Kev.  John  S.  C.  Abbot,  the  well  known 
author,  now  engaged  in  writing  an  elaborate  history  of  our  great 
rebellion.  To  him  succeeded  that  ripe  scholar  and  most  amiable 
man,  the  Kev.  David  Peabody,  afterwards  professor  of  rhetoric 
in  Dartmouth  College;  equally  loved  in  life,  and  lamented  in  his 
early  death.  Of  the  present  incumbent  of  the  pulpit  of  this  church 
there  is  no  occasion  to  speak.  His  character  may  be  read  in  the 
afi'ection  and  respect  with  which  he  is  regarded  not  only  b}^  his 
own  religious  communion,  but  by  all  his  fellow  citizens  with  whom 
he  has  so  long  resided.  He  will  not  fail  to  notice  a  sentiment  dic- 
tated by  sincere  respect  for  his  church,  its  ministers  and  founders. 

6.  The  Central  Church  and  Parish, 

Honored  in  its  early  and  munificent  benefactors,  and  in  a  pious 
and  learned  ministry. 


To  this  sentiment  the  Rev.  Seth  Sweetser,  D.  D.,  the  present 
minister  of  the  Parish,  responded  in  a  manner  very  appropriate 
and  effective. 

The  Chair  then  remarked,  that  though  we  cannot  justly  claim 
our  neighbors  of  the  first  Baptist  Society,  as  our  children,  for 
according  to  the  distinguished  historian  of  that  society,  the  honor 
of  its  paternity  pertained  more  properly  to  the  late  venerable 
James  Wilson,  an  emigrant  from  England  ;  yet  we  recognize  them 
as  amongst  our  best  friends,  and  offer  the  following  sentiment : — 

7.  The  First  Baptist  Society. 

The  success  of  their  first  half  century  is  the  earnest  of  a  glori- 
ous Centennial. 

The  Ecv.  Lemuel  Moss,  the  minister  of  this  societ}^,  responded, 
alluding  to  their  recent  sefni-centennial  celebration  of  the  gather- 
ing of  their  church,  its  existence  thus  embracing  just  half  the  years 
since  the  erection  of  the  Old  South.  He  gracefully  complimented 
their  senior  sister  church,  and  expressed  his  best  wishes  for  her 
continued  prosperity. 

The  President  next  alluded  to  the  obligation  of  the  committee  of 
arrangements,  for  the  aid  afforded  them  in  preparing  for  this  occa- 
casion,  by  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  incorporated  in  1812. 
And  in  return,  he  would  give  as  a  Sentiment, 

8.  The  American  Antiquarian  Society. 

Though  in  its  origin  much  the  junior  of  the  Old  South,  it  faith- 
fully preserves  the  record  of  things  old  as  well  as  new. 

The  Hon.  Stephen  Salisbury,  the  munificent  President  of  that 
Society,  eloquently  responded  to  the  sentiment,  reverently  alluding 
to  the  age  of  the  exterior  of  the  venerable  Old  South,  while  the 
interior  was  graced  with  the  beauty  and  spirit  of  youth.  Mr. 
Salisbury  also  alluded,  in  appropriate  terms,  to  the  valuable  so- 
ciety referred  to  in  the  sentiment,  over  which  he  had  the  honor 
to  preside,  and  closed  with  an  expression  of  great  satisfaction  in 
listening  to  the  discourse  this  morning  delivered  in  our  ancient 
Church. 

Samuel  F.  Haven,  Esq.,  the  learned  Librarian  of  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society,  was  also  present,  and  in  his  answer  to  the 
note  of  invitation,  expressed  great  interest  in  the  objects  of  the 
occasion. 

On  the  9th  of  December,  1862,  the  first  Baptist  Church  com^ 


65 

memorfited  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  organization,  by  an  inter- 
€sling  historical  discouj'.se,  which  was  j)ul)lih«hod.  In  aUusiou  to 
that  fact,  a  member  of  the  commiUeo  oifers  the  following  senti- 
ment  : 

9.   The  Historian  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  : 

By  his  recent  semi-Centennial  Discourse,  he  has  made  a  valuable 
contribution  to  church  history. 

The  Hon.  Isaac  Davis  responded,  expressing  his  great  interest  in 
the  occasion  ;  and  by  his  remarks,  demonstrated  notoidy  the  truth 
of  the  sentiment  offered,  but,  by  his  long  and  official  connection 
with  the  affairs  of  the  cit}',  his  entire  familiarity  with  the  mate- 
rial history  of  all  its  churches  and  other  public  buihiings. 

The  President  then  rem.arked,  that  it  was  understood  that  the 
members  of  the  Old  South  should  remain  quiet,  and  give  prece- 
dence to  our  invited  guests.  But  the  company  may  think  that  it 
is  quite  time  for  them  to  hear  from  our  young  pastor. 

We  .ought,  perhaps,  to  premise,  that  we  have  taken  him  not  onl}' 
from  the  schools,  at  home  and  iibroad,  but  also  from  wM\at  we 
deem  no  disparagement,  a  former  Chaplaincy  in  the  army  of  volun- 
teers. For  while  we  did  not  seek  a  minister  to  "preach  politics," 
we  should  be  sorry,  especially  in  the  present  state  of  the  country, 
to  have  one  who  could  not  very  heaiLily  pray  patriotism.  Under 
such  impressions  the  following  sentiment  is  offered. 

*  10.  Our  Fastor  : 

The  last,  best  draft  from  New  Haven  ministers.  He  has  been 
unanimously  accepted  ;  claiming  no  exemption  from  duty  to  his 
people,  his   God  and  his  country. 

The  Rev.  Edward  A.  Walker,  the  minister  of  the  First  Parish, 
said  that  it  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever  addressed  a  Massachu- 
setts audience  on  such  an  occasion.  That  the  recital  of  our  local 
history  for  the  century  past,  possessed  great  interest  for  him; 
while  the  great  and  beneficent  events  in  the  history  of  our  country 
for  the  same  period,  embracing  the  birth  of  our  republic  and  an  en- 
largement of  its  liberties,  gave  promise  of  a  coming  century,  more 
glorious,  if  we  do  our  duty,  than  that  which  is  past. 

As  to  army  life,  wdiile  it  had  its  incidental  disadvantages  and 
dangers,  it  served  to  awaken  energy  and  develop  character,  and  to 
make  men  more  tolei'ant  of  each  othei*. 

The  Chair  then  adverted  to  the  fact,  that  after  the  incorpora- 


m 

tion  of  the  County  of  Worcester  in  1731,  the  Old  South  monopo- 
lized nearly  all  the  offices  of  the  Probate  Court.  The  first  Judge 
of  that  court  was  John  Chandler  of  Woodstock,  Conn.,  then  regard- 
ed as  within  the  state  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  succeeded  in 
the  Probate  office  by  his  son  and  his  grandson  of  the  same  name, 
residents  of  Worcester,  and  the  great  benefactors  of  the  Old  South, 
To  them  succeeded  the  first  Governor  Lincoln  of  the  same  Parish, 
but  subsequently  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Second  Parish. 
In  allusion  to  these  facts,  the  Chair  gave  as  a  sentiment, 

11.  The  Probate  Office  of  Worcester  County: 

Though  it  has  got  out  of  the  line  of  the  Old  South,  it  has  not 
departed  from  the  line  of  duty. 

The  Hon.  Henry  Chapin  of  the  Church  of  the  Unity,  and  Judge 
of  the  Court  of  Probate  and  Insolvency,  responded  with  his  usual 
tact  and  eloquence  on  festive  occasions,  and  amongst  many  other 
good  things,  paid  a  befitting  tribute  of  commendation  to  puritan 
persistence  and  patriotism. 

The  presence  of  the  Kev.  Rush  R.  Shippen,  minister  of  the 
Church  of  the  Unity,  had  been  invited,  but  the  committee  were 
disappointed  by  his  absence  on  account  of  severe  indisposition. 

As  the  third  child  of  the  Old  South,  the  Chair  then  gave  as  a 
sentiment, 

12.  The   Union  Society  : 

May  it  prove  the  union  of  all  who  profess  and  call  themselves 
christians,  and  bring  forth  fruit  meet  for  repentance. 

The  Eev.  Ebenezer  Cutler,  the  minister  of  the  Union  Society? 
responded  very  appropriately,  stating  that  at  the  formation  of  his 
society  in  1835,  about  three-fifths  of  its  members  were  drawn  from 
the  Old  South,  and  two-fifths  from  the  Central  Society.  He  con- 
cluded with  a  tribute  of  affection  and  respect  for  the  Old  South, 
with  an  earnest  aspiration  that  it  might  long  remain  the  exponent 
of  their  common  piety  and  faith. 

The  President  then  said,  that  those  of  us  who  had  been  brought 
up  in  the  schools,  would  recollect  with  what  pleasure  we  had  read 
in  the  euphonious  original,  of  "  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  will 
derness."  In  these  latter  days  we  have  no  St.  John  preaching  in 
the  wilderness ;  but  true  as  it  is  strange,  we  have  an  eloquent  one 
preaching  in  this  city.  To  prove  this,  we  need  only  call  upon  the 
Kev.  T.  E.  St.  John,  the  minister  of  the  Universalist  Church. 


67 

Mr.  St.  John  answered  the  call  with  alacrity  and  much  elo- 
quence. Amongst  other  things  he  said  that  he  regarded  it  as 
his  duty  to  deal  with  the  present.  That  in  the  manhood  of  the 
times,  he  saw  the  fruit  of  the  religion  of  our  fathers,  and  that  the 
spirit  of  New  England  still  lingers  around  the  old  places.  That  it 
is  our  duty  to  push  forward  the  New  England  spirit  of  aggression 
against  all  bad  things;  and  he  saw  in  the  struggle  of  the  war^ 
freedom  and  religion  contending  with  caste  and  tyranny.  He 
closed,  expressing  his  happiness  that  the  puritan  Old  South  church 
led  off  so  well  in  the  recognition  of  the  brotherhood  of  all  working 
in  the  cause  of  God. 

Sentiments  respectfully  referring  to  the  second  and  third  Bap- 
tist Societies  were  proposed,  inviting  responses  from  the  Rev. 
David  Weston,  the  minister  of  the  former,  and  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Banvard,  the  minister  of  the  latter  societj^.  But  the  lateness  of 
the  hour  and  the  absence  of  Mr.  Banvard,  deprived  the  company 
of  the  pleasure  they  would  otherwise  have  enjoyed  in  hearing  from 
those  gentlemen. 

The  committee  of  invitations  received  from  Mr.  Banvard  the  fol- 
lowing note  : 

Boston,  Sept.  21,  1863. 
Gentlemen : — 

I  exceedingly  regret  that  the  funeral  of  one  of  my  family, 
will  prevent  me  from  participating  in  your  pleasant  services. 

May  the  Lord  preserve  you  another  century,  and  bless  you  more  than  a  hun- 
dred fold. 

I  refer  you  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pattison,  if  any  report  is  desired  from  the  third 
Baptist.  Church. 

Affectionately  Yours, 

JOSEPH  BANVARD. 

The  Rev.  Robert  E.  Pattison,  D.  D.,  Principal  of  the  Oread  Insti- 
tute, having  retired  from  the  table,  in  lieu  of  hi8_  remarks,  has 
kindly  allowed  us  to  avail  ourselves  of  his  testimony  as  to  the  hon- 
orable and  christian  reconcilement  that  took  place  between  the 
venerable  James  Wilson,  the  father  of  the  first  Baptist  Church, 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Austin  of  the  Old  South.  Dr.  Pattison  was  the 
son-in-law  of  Dea.  Wilson,  and  his  testimony  is  equally  creditable 
to  his  own  christian  feelings,  and  to  the  memory  of  two  good  and 
prominent  men,  who,  from  a  temporary  estrangement  on  earth, 
have  now  both  gone  to  enjoy  perpetual  harmony  in  Heaven*. 


68 

Speaking  of  an  interview  had  between  Dr.  Austin  and  Dea. 
Wilson,  Dr.  Pattison  says  that  "  previous  to  this  interview,  and 
as  they  understood  each  other  better,  there  had  been  springing  up 
not  only  between  the  two  godij'  men,  but  between  their  families, 
a  kindly  feeling  which  at  a  later  period  ripened  into  respect  and 
affection.  Amongst  the  families  who  most  honored  Dr.  Austin  as 
a  1  ublic  man  and  pastor,  were  those  who  became  the  sincere  per- 
sonal friends  of  Dea.  Wilson  and  his  family.  So  much  is  due  to 
truth  and  goodness." 

After  complimentary  sentiments  to  the  ladies  and  the  choir,  the 
company  rose,  and  all  joined  in  the  air  consecrated  to  social 
enjoyment,  Avid  Lang  Syne,  and  then  adjourned  to  re-assemble  in 
Mechanics  Hall,  at  7^-  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

Our  fi'iends  from  abroad,  and  members  of  other  parishes  in  the 
city  were  cordially  invited  to  attend  the  free  social  re-union,  to  be 
held  at  that  time  and  place. 


RE-UNION  AT  MECHANICS  HALL. 


Mechanics  Hall  was  well  filled  at  an  early  hour  in  the  evening, 
and  the  exercises  were  much  enlivened  by  the  presence  and  per- 
formances of  the  Worcester  Cornet  Band. 

In  front  of  the  platform  was  a  cabinet  of  ancient  relics  and 
curiosities,  illuminated  from  the  chandelabra  of  Mrs.  Maccarty, 
and  pertaining  to  the  history  of  the  Old  South  Church,  which 
attracted  much  attention. 

Am.ongst  these  was  the  small  octavo  Bible  left  by  the  Eev.  Mr. 
Maccarty,  in  which  texts  preached  from  by  him  are  carefully 
marked  and  very  numerous.  This  Bible  was  published  at  Edin- 
burg  in  1736,  with  Eouse's  version  of  the  Psalms  subjoined,  it 
being  the  version  of  the  Psalms  allowed  by  the  Kirk  of  Scotland 
in  1645. 

JVIrs  Maccarty's  wedding  apron  and  silver  snuff  box. 

Watch  left  by  Eev.  Mr.  Maccarty. 

Pictures  of  1694,  from  Cornelius  Stowell,  one  of  the  earliest 
settlers  in  Worcester. 

Calico  and  handkerchief  printing  blocks,  used  by  his  son, 
Peter  Stowell,  said  to  have  been  of  the  timber  of  the  old  meeting 
house  that  stood  on  the  same  spot  where  the  present  Old  South 
stands. 

A  book,  entitled  "  The  Certain  Blessedness  of  all  those  whose, 
sins  are  forgiven,"  (1721,)  from  Dea.  Nathan  Perry,  grandfather  of 
the  present  Dea.  Samuel  Perry,  with  the  cane  left  by  that  worthy 
patriarch,  &c.,  &c. 

The  President  introduced  the  exercises  of  the  evening  with  the 
remark,  that  it  was  expected  that  the  Salem  Street  Church,  the 
youngest  of  the  Congregational  order  in  the  city,  should  pay 
their  respects  to  the   Old  South,  if  not  as  distinctively  their 


70 

mother,  at  least  as  their  eldest  sister;  and  he  called  upon  the  Kev. 
Merrill  Kichardson,  their  minister,  to  answer  for  them. 

Mr.  Eichardson  responded  with  characteristic  eloquence. 

He  excepted  to  the  designation  of  churches  as  the  "  young- 
est *'  and  "eldest,''  apd  to  the  allusion  to  the  men  of  1763 
as  ancient  and  venerable,  and  those  of  the  present  time  as  young. 
He  thought  Adam  the  j^oungest  man  of  his  race,  because  he  had 
the  least  knowledge  and  experience  in  life.  Those  who  had 
lived  since  were  older,  because  they  had  the  advantage  of  his 
thoughts  and  experiences.  In  this  sense,  each  age  was  older  than 
the  preceding,  and  his  church  was  the  most  venerable  of  any  of 
those  that  had  been  alluded  to.  He  concluded,  speaking  of  the 
law  of  progress  in  mankind,  and  urging  the  responsibility  resting 
upon  us,  to  hand  down  to  posterity  all  the  light  we  may  have 
elicited,  with  added  lights  derived  from  those  who  have  gone 
before  us. 

The  Chair  then  read  the  following  sentiment,  alluding  to  the 
Rev.  John  Nelson,  D.  D.,  the  senior  minister  of  the  First  Parish 
in  Leicester,  settled  there  in  1812. 

13.  The  First  Parish  in  Leicester : 

"We  gave  tkem  one  of  the  most  able  and  honored  clergymen  in 
the  Commonwealth ; — they  have  paid  the  debt  by  the  constancy 
and  respect  with  which  they  have  sustained  him. 

In  lieu  of  a  personal  response,  the  committee  of  invitations 
received  the  following  interesting  letter  from  Dr.  Nelson  :  • 

To  Caleb  Dana,  Esq..  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee  : — 

It  is  hard,  very  hard  for  me  to  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  taking  a 
part  in,  or  even  being  present  at  your  Centennial  celebration  on  the  22d  of 
September.  It  is  still  harder  to  resist  the  kind  solicitations  of  friends  to  be,  at 
least,  present. 

But  I  assure  you  gentlemen,  that  with  a  knowledge  of  my  infirmities  I  feel 
I  must  decline  venturing  at  all  on  an  occasion  which  I  know  would  to  me  be 
dangerously  exciting. 

I  am  glad  the  inahilitij  I  have  to  plead  is  of  the  physical  and  not  the  moral 
kind  which  the  good  minister  of  my  youth,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Austin  taught  me 
was  the  kind  to  which  criminality  was  attached. 

My  presence,  if  with  you,  I  am  aware  could  do  little  more  than  furnish  a 
somewhat  rare  antiquity  for  the  occasion.  I  could  tell  you  of  little  else  than  of 
the  vivid  impression  I  received  of  your  venerable  church  edifice  at  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  when  I  first  saw  what  seemed  to  me  a  massive  structure,  with  its 


71 

porch  on  main  street ;    its  tall   steeple  and  the  bird  which  I  believe  is  still 
perched  on  the  top. 

I  could  tell  you  also  of  Avhat  I  saw  within — first  of  all,  underthe  stairs,  a  pair 
of  stocks,  formidable  looking  instruments,  indicating  that  I  had  gotten  into  a 
place  of  some  danger.  I  remember  seeing  Richard  Knight  seize  the  bell  rope, 
and  with  his  hands  fast  upon  it,  swing  himself  off  from  the  first  tiirn  in  the  ban- 
isters in  order  to  give  it  a  vigorous   motion. 

I  remember  the  high  pulpit  and  the  sounding  board  over  it  which  I  often 
feared  would  fall  upon  the  minister's  head  ; — and  then  the  large  square  Pew 
at  the  front  of  the  pulpit,  occasionally  one  or  two  aged  men  in  it,  that  they 
might  get  a  little  nearer  the  high  elevation  from  which  the  word  was  sounded  out 
— also  the  pews,  generally  with  the  seats  on  hinges  to  be  raised  when  the  people 
rose  for  prayer,  for  the  people  then  did  stand  up  before  the  Lord.  I  remember 
too,  and  who  that  heard  it  does  not  remember  ?  the  unearthly  clattering  made 
by  the  fall  of  the  seats  when  the  people  sat  down  or  heard  the  last  Amen. 

Nor  do  I  forget  the  choir,  lead  by  Lawson  Harrington,  nor  the  bass-viol  nor 
the  violin  played  by  Samuel  or  Elisha  Flagg,  nor  the  good  old  tunes  as  Corona- 
tion, Russia,  Majesty,  Ocean,  with  their  Fugues,  in  which  the  several  parts  came 
round  in  grand  style  by  a  sort  of  masterly  military  evolution. 

Certainly,  I  do  not  forget  the  venerated  minister.  Rev.  Samuel  Austin,  D.  D.-, 
tall,  muscular,  with  a  countenance  solemn  and  somewhat  austere — whose 
preaching  was  highly  doctrinal,  able,  earnest  and  often  eloquent,  and  whose 
prayers  were  remarkable  for  their  fervency. 

To  the  church  and  society  worshipping  in  your  ancient  edifice  I  feel  myself 
bound  by  ties  of  no  ordinary  strength.  My  connections  with  the  church  as  a 
member  goes  back  more  than  sixty  years.  There  I  worshipped  in  my  youth. 
There  my  family  have  worshipped  and  what  remain  still  worship.  There  my 
venerated  father  performed  the  duties  of  a  church  officer.  The  pulpit  I  have 
often  occupied  and  always  been  most  intimate  and  cordial  with  the  successive 
ministers  and  people. 

Although  absent  in  the  body,  my  whole  spirit  is  with  you  on  this  joyful  occa- 
sion. Your  noble  church  edifice  is  daguerreotyped  on  my  memory  and  heart. 
I  love  it  as  it  is  and  loliere  it  is.  Worcester  would  cease  to  be  Worcester  with- 
out it.  May  it  remain  for  other  centennial  celebrations,  and  for  generations  to 
come,  be  filled  with  devout  worshippers. 

Very  truly  yours. 

JOHN  NELSON. 

Caleb  Dana,  Samuel  A.  Porter,  James  Estabrook,   Waterman  A.  Fisher, 
"Richard  Ball. 

Leicester,  Septemher  19,  1863. 

In  expectation  of  the  presence  of  both.  Dr.  Nelson  and  the  Hon. 
Emory  Washburn  of  Cambridge,  the  following  sentiment  was 
prepared  but   not   announced.     Mr.   Washburn  was  a  native   of 


72 

Leicester; — removed  to  Worcester  and  became  a  distinguished 
lawyer  here,  and  in  1864  was  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth. 
He  is  now  one  of  the  Professors  in  the  Law  School  of  Harvard 
University. 

14:.  A  fair  exchange  :  • 

Worcester  gave  to  Leicester  one  of  the  best  ministers;  and 
Leicester  gave  Worcester  one  of  the  best  lawyers,  in  the  Com- 
monwealth. 

The  committee  received  a  note  from  ex-Governor  Washburn 
accepting  their  invitation,  and  expressing  great  regret  that  a  mis- 
take as  to  the  day  of  the  occasion,  had  deprived  him  of  the  pleas- 
ure of  attending. 

The  Chair  then  alluded  to  a  Eev.  and  learned  gentlemen  of 
Worcester,  from  whom  the  committee  had  derived  great  aid  in 
collecting  historical  materials  for  the  occasion,  and  intimated  that 
still  farther  drafts  for  his  services  would  probably  have  been 
made,  were  it  not  for  his  impaired  eye-sight.  The  following  sen- 
timent was  offered  : 

15.  The  health  of  the  Bev.  George  Allen: 

Distinguished  for  his  antiquarian  learning;  for  his  kind  offices 
to  the  Old  South  Church,  and  for  his  valuable  recollections  and 
knowledge  of  its  history. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Allen  responded  to  this  sentiment  with  rare  tact 
and  interest.  He  controverted  the  antiquarian  views  of  the  Kev. 
Mr.  Eichardson,  and  held  with  the  late  learned  and  excellent 
Judge  Wilde,  that  much  of  the  modern  light  was  nothing  but  a 
reflection  from  ancient  luminaries.  His  recollections  of  the  Old 
South  Church  and  all  that  pertained  to  it,  w^ere  remarkable  for 
their  vividness  and  accuracy.  His  testimony  as  to  the  talents 
and  character  of  the  Kev.  Dr.  Austen,  was  in  entire  agreement 
with  that  of  ex-Governor  Lincoln. 

The  next  sentiment  was  to 

16.  The  memory  of  Rev.  Aretiiis  B.  Hull: 

Amongst  the  most  grateful  and  cherished  memories  of  the  Old 
South  Church  and  Parish. 

The  Pev.  Joseph  D.  Hull  of  Hartford,  son  of  the  Rev.  Aretius 
B.  Hull,  responded  ver}^  appropriately  to  this  sentiment,  noticing 
particularly  his  early  recollections  of  his  honored  father.  (See 
post,  note  14.) 


7a 

The  President  then  gave  as  a  sentiment, 

17.  The  memory  of  the  Rev.  Thaddeus  Maccarty, 

Worthy  of  being  Fostered  by  all ;  especially  by  his  distinguished 
posterity. 

The  company  were  gratified  by  the  presence  of  two  of  the 
great  granddaughters  of  Mr.  Maccarty,  Mrs.  Alfred  D.  Foster, 
and  Mrs.  Henry  K.  Newcomb ;  and  the  committee  received 
from  the  Hon.  Dwight  Foster,  the  Attorney  General  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  great-great  grandson  of  Mr.  Maccarty,  the  fol- 
lowing letter : 

Worcester,  21st  Sept.  1863. 

Messrs.  Caleb  Dana,  &c.,  &c.,  Committee  of  the  First  Parish, 

Gentlemen  :  I  thank  you  very  sincerely  for  remembering  me  among 
your  invited  guests  to  the  Centennial  Celebration  to-morrow,  and  regret  that 
imperative  professional  engagements  will  deprive  me  of  the  pleasure  of  being 
present  upon  an  occasion  of  so  much  interest  to  all  who  love  the  history  and 
traditions  of  our  city. 

I  cannot  forget  that  I  owe  the  honor  of  this  invitation  to  the  fact  that  I  am 
one  of  the  descendants  of  a  clergyman  who  was  for  thirty-seven  years  pastor 
of  the  church  in  Worcester,  the  memory  of  whose  ministry  is  still  cherished. 
The  venerable  minister,  who  had  baptised  the  children,  married  the  young 
people  and  buried  the  dead  for  more  than  a  generation,  came  at  length  to  have 
an  authority  and  sustain  a  sacred  relation  of  which  comparatively  few  ex- 
amples now  remain.  I  trust  it  will  not  be  regarded  out  of  place  for  me  to 
express  the  hope  that  the  gentleman  whom  you  have  recently  chosen  with  such 
cordial  unanimity,  and  who  comes  to  his  parochial  charge  in  the  freshness  and 
vigor  of  early  manhood  may  continue — as  did  my  sainted  ancestor  —  in 
acceptable  and  fruitful  ministration  over  your  church  and  society  as  long  as  his 
life  is  spared  to  labor  in  his  Master's  service. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  very  respectfully,  your  friend  and  servant, 

DWIGHT  FOSTER. 

The  Committee  also  received  the  following  letter  from  the  Eev. 
Eobirison  P.  Dunn,  Professor  of  Ehetoric  in  Brown  University, 
pleasantly  indicating  his  relationship  to  the  family  of  the  Eev.  Mr. 
Maccarty. 

Providence,  Sept.  18th,  1863. 

Messrs.  C.  Dana.  S.  A.  Porter,  J.  Estabrook,  W.  A.  Fisher,  and  R. 
Ball,  Committee  on  Invitations. 
Gentlemen  :  I  thank  you  for  your  invitation  to  myself  and  wife  to 
attend  the  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  First  Church  and  Parish  of  Worcester- 
Mrs.  Dunn,  who  is  now  in  W.,  will  do  herself  the  pleasure  to  be  present.  I 
shall  be  detained  by  my  duties  in  Providence.  I  regret  this  very  much,  as  in 
addition  to  the  satisfaction  I  should  have  in  joining  in  your  services  and  fes- 

10 


74 

tivities,  I  should  welcome  any  opportunity  of  uniting  with  you  in  a  tribute  of 
respect  to  the  memory  of  that  former  pastor  of  the  church,  with  whose  family 
my  marriage  gives  me  the  honor  of  a  connection. 

Hoping  that  the  coming  anniversary,  gathering  up  into  itself  the  memories 
and  results  of  a  century,  may  give  to  your  church  and  society  an  impulse 
which  shall  not  have  been  spent  when  your  successors  shall  celebrate  the  Bi- 
centennial, 

I  am,  gentlemen,  yours  respectfully, 

R.   P.   DUNN. 

The  Chair  then  read  a  sentiment  complimentary  to  the  two  sur- 
viving ex-ministers,  the  JRev.  Eodney  A.  Miller,  and  the  Eev.  Hor- 
ace James. 

18.     The  Ex-Ministers  of  the  Old  South  Church. 

We  respectfully  salute  him  who  is  a  resident  in  our  midst;  and 
gratefully  remember  him  who  is  absent  in  the  service  of  his 
country. 

The  Eev.  Mr.  Miller  was  absent  on  a  visit  to  his  native  place, 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  upon  his  return  home,  he  expressed  much  regret 
at  the  circumstance  that  prevented  his  presence  at  our  centennial 
anniversary. 

The  Eev.  Mr.  James  being  absent  with  his  regiment  at  New- 
bern,  N.  C,  sent  to  the  committee  on  invitations,  the  following 
interesting  letter : 

Newhern,  N.   C,  Sept.  18,  1863. 

Dear  Brethren : 

I  have  often  said  to  my  friends  that  if  I  lived  to  spend  the  year 
1863  in  the  "  Old  South,"  I  would  try  to  gather  together  all  the  survivors  of 
that  ancient  church,  with  their  friends,  and  hold  in  that  venerable  edifice  a 
commemorative  festival. 

In  the  providence  of  God,  my  pastorate  ceased  near  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  and  my  cherished  purpose  failed  of  being  realized. 

Not  so  the  plan.  It  has  fallen  into  abler  hands,  and  will,  I  doubt  not,  be 
carried  out  on  the  22d  inst.  with  appropriate  rites  and  observances.  Of  this 
the  names  of  the  committee  appended  to  the  circular  of  invitation  are  a  suffi- 
cient guarantee. 

As  a  member  of  the  First  Church  in  Worcester,  and  for  nearly  ten  years  its 
pastor,  I  feel  the  liveliest  interest  in  all  its  affairs.  The  memories  of  my  min- 
istry in  it  are  fresh  and  fragrant.  I  am  like  an  unweaned  child,  and  turn 
towards  the  dear  old  church  as  my  mother  still.  I  pray  for  its  peace.  I  seek 
its  prosperity.  I  am  jealous  of  its  reputation,  and  grateful  for  its  shelter  as  my 
ecclesiastical  home. 

At  least  until  the  closing  days  of  this  eventful  national  struggle,  and  the  for- 


T5 

mation,  on  my  part,  of  some  new  pastoral  connection,  I  ask  a  place,  with  my 
dear  wife,  upon  your  annual  catalogue,  an  occasional  remembrance  in  your 
prayers,  and  a  home  in  your  hearts. 

That  I  cannot  be  at  the  "  Centennial"  is  a  keen  disappointment  to  me. 

The  profound  historic  research  which  will  characterize  the  address  of  my 
learned  brother  who  is  your  chosen  organ  on  the  occasion,  I  shall  not  wholly 
miss  ;  for  the  press  will  preserve,  and  the  mail  transmit  to  me  the  Centennial 
Address. 

But  the  solemn  grandeur  of  the  proposed  reunion,  the  tender  memories 
it  will  revive,  the  heart-throbs,  the  hand-graspings,  the  loving  words  which  will 
be  spoken,  the  sparkling  wit  and  rallying  repartee  which  may  be  expected  to 
give  point  and  pith  and  pathos  to  the  services  and  festivities  of  the  occasion- 
all  these  I  must  forego.  I  should  enjoy  them  intensely,  but  at  the  present  time 
my  duty  lies  another  way. 

At  this  distance  from  my  native  home,  banished  from  books,  shut  out  from 
libraries,  and  acting  almost  wholly  in  the  practical,  living  world,  it  will  be  im- 
possible forme  to  add  one  item  to  the  historic  wealth  of  your  Centennary. 

It  will  however  be  an  addition  to  the  valuable  material  out  of  which  the  hon- 
orable record  of  the  Old  South  Parish  is  to  be  compiled,  that  it  furnished  one 
pastor  who  patriotically  stood  by  the  country  in  the  trying  days  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  and  another  who  was  among  the  first  to  take  the  field  when  the 
liberties  of  the  people  were  again  betrayed  and  imperiled.  It  will  always  give 
eclat  to  the  fine  old  house  of  worship,  that  now  touches  upon  three  centuries  of 
time,  that  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence  was  first  promulgated  to 
the  citizens  of  the  town  of  Worcester  from  the  top  of  one  of  its  antique  por- 
ches ;  and  we  hope  that  it  may  be  considered  in  future  years  an  honor  no  less 
distinguished,  that  this  church  gave  to  the  country  in  her  hour  of  need,  a  Pas- 
tor, a  Superintendent  of  the  Sabbath  School,  and  a  score  or  two  of  brave  men 
to  stand  in  the  ranks  where  the  leaden  hail  fell  thickest,  and  the  thunder  of  war 
was  loud. 

I  believe  that  the  ministry  of  the  First  Church  has  always  been  a  patriotic 
ministry,  and  the  congregation  a  loyal  and  patriotic  people. 

Young  Curtis  and  Estey,  members  of  the  25th  Regiment,  now  sleeping  in 
death,  once  belonged  to  your  Sabbath  School,  and  were  attentive  hearers  of 
the  word  from  your  pulpit.  They  are  among  the  valuable  sacrifices  you  have 
made  to  maintain  the  integrity  and  glory  of  our  land. 

They  fell  too  soon  for  affection,  but  not  too  early  for  renown.  Their  names, 
with  others  who  may  be  associated  with  them  before  the  end  shall  come,  might 
well  be  inscribed  upon  a  Marble  Tablet  in  the  dear  old  edifice,  to  be  transferred 
to  its  successor  when  itself  shall  crumble  before  all  devouring  time. 

Of  my  ten  years  administration  of  the  pastorate  among  you,  it  is  fit  that  oth- 
ers should  speak  rather  than  myself.  I  only  claim  for  my  ministry  that  it  was 
exercised  in  honesty,  earnestness,  and  freedom.  Its  fruits  were  more  than  I 
deserved,  fewer  than  I  hoped  for. 


T6 

On  the  whole  I  look  back  upon  those  ten  years,  more  shaded  with  personal 
sorrow  than  any  equal  period  of  my  life,  with  feelings  of  devout  and  grateful 
thanksgiving  5  as  one  chastened  and  not  killed  ;  as  sorrowful  yet  always  rejoic- 
ing I  as  poor  yet  making  many  rich ;  as  having  nothing  and  yet  possessing  all 
things. 

May  the  tenderness  of  that  affection  with  which,  from  first  to  last,  you  have 
regarded  me  and  mine,  make  happy  the  life  and  labors  of  my  beloved  succes- 
sor, and  be  in  the  history  of  the  church,  like 

• 
"Another  morn 

Risen  on  midnoon," 

bringing  it  nearer  and  even  nearer  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 

I  have  left  the  "  Old  South"  to  help  make  a  new  South.  The  providence  of 
God  has  plainly  pointed  out  to  me  this  service,  and  laid  it,  unchosen  and  un- 
sought, upon  my  shoulders.     Nor  will  I  shrink  from  the  undertaking. 

I  believe  in  it,  as  the  most  important  duty  of  the  hour.  Amid  humble  labors, 
under  reproach  and  scorn,  the  indifference  of  some  and  the  opposition  of  not  a 
few,  I  am  charged  with  the  work  of  laying  anew  the  foundations  of  society  in 
regions  where  it  had  wholly  fallen  to  pieces.  Be  it  my  effort  to  build  up  the 
social  structure  not  "  as  it  was,"  but  as  it  sJiould  be  ;  not  on  the  old  principle 
of  an  aristocracy  which  is  essentially  hostile  to  a  republic,  tends  to  rebellion 
and  revolution,  and  can  never  be  propitiated,  but  must  either  o'er  master  the 
government  or  be  destroyed, — but  on  the  principle  of  personal  freedom  com- 
pensated labor  and  natural  rights,  secured  to  all  by  constitutional  and  local 
law.  Class  power  and  Individual  power  are  now  in  deadly  conflict.  Oligar- 
chy has  its  clutch  upon  the  throat  of  Democracy. 

The  keenest  blade  with  which  our  government  can  defend  itself  is  the  Presi- 
dent's proclamation  of  freedom  ;  the  only  banner  under  which  it  can  success- 
fully fight  is  the  flag  of  our  Union.  The  contest  is  not  doubtful,  unless  public 
integrity,  patience  and  faith  shall  fail. 

If  you,  dear  friends ;  if  this  great  American  jpeopZe  are  true,  the  liberties  of 
this  Republic  are  secure,  and  every  thing  is  safe.  But  if  the  People  falter  or 
the  President  recants,  then  all  is  lost. 

I  ask  pardon  for  the  length  of  my  communication.  I  could  willingly  say 
more,  but  not  easily  less.  May  the  fine  old  structure  under  the  shadow  of 
which  you  are  met  to  celebrate  the  feast  of  ingathering  at  the  end  of  a  hundred 
years,  witness  on  the  22d.  a  rarer  assembly  and  be  the  scene  of  a  holier  convo- 
cation than  it  ever  summoned  before. 

May  the  children  throng  around  that  hallowed  altar  with  an  eager  interest 
to  learn  the  story  of  its  ancient  renown  from  the  lips  of  the  venerable  men  that 
yet  survive  to  bless  and  guide  their  youth.  Let  christians  kneel  upon  its  pave- 
ment with  a  fresh  devotion,  while  they  thank  God  for  the  beauty,  stability  and 
glorious  order  of  his  holy  sanctuary.  Let  them  walk  about  our  favored  Zion, 
and  go  round  about  her.     Let  them  tell  the  towers  thereof.     Let  them  mark 


77 

well  her  bulwarks,  and  consider  lier  palaces  ;  that  they  may  tell  it  to  the  gene- 
rations following.  For  this  God  is  our  God  forever  and  ever.  He  will  be 
our  guide  even  unto  death. 

And  as  you  sit  in  your  heavenly  places,  and  are  rapt  in  angelic  song,  or 
glow  with  #16  ardors  of  devotion,  turn  we  pray  you,  a  look  of  tenderness  towards 
your  brethren  in  the  camp,  your  companions  on  the  battle-field,  your  children 
on  the  sea,  your  spiritual  offspring  in  the  ends  of  the  earth.  And,  with  the 
combined  benedictions  of  a  century  w^hispering  from  every  beam  and  timber  of 
the  honorable  place  wherein  you  stand,  make  proclamation  to  all  your  absent 
kindred  in  Christ,  saying  in  God's  name.  We  bless  you  out  of  the  house  of  the 
Lord.] 

With  truest  love  and  fidelity,  I  remain. 

Dear  Brethren  and  friends,  devotedly  yours, 

HORACE  JAMES. 
To  Caleb  Dana,  Samuel  A.  Porter,  James  Estabrook,  W.  A.  Fisher  and 
Richard  Ball,  Committee  on  Invitations. 

The  Chair  then  alluded  to  the  Eev.  William  Barrows  of  Eead- 
ing,  Mass ,  as  a  young  clergyman,  formerly  connected  with  the 
Old  South,  and  much  respected  and  cherished  in  Worcester. 

Mr.  Barrows  denied  the  impeachment  of  being  young,  but  felt 
honored  by  his  connection  with  the  Old  South  church  thirty  years 
ago,  in  one  of  the  best  speeches  of  the  evening  ;  giving  his  recol- 
lections of  Worcester,  he  demonstrated  that  he  must  have  a 
remarkable  memory,  if  a  very  young  man. 

The  Eev.  W.  E.  Huntington,  the  young  Eector  of  All  Saints 
Church,  being  absent  on  foreign  travel,  and  the  Eev.^S'amuel  S. 
Spear,  of  Boston,  his  worthy  substitute,  having  retired  from  the 
Hall,  the  following  sentiment,  alluding  to  a  distinguished  member 
of  that  communion,  was  handed  to  the  chair  by  one  of  his  respect- 
ed colleagues. 

19.  All  Saints  Church  : 

The  fathers  of  the  Old  South  were  not  able,  like  the  Jews,  to 
offer  one  hundred  bullocks  at  the  dedication  of  ^Aezr  temple ;  but 
All  Saints  is  able  to  offer  one,  on  this  occasion,  worth  more  than 
all  of  them. 

The  sacrifice  not  forthcoming,  the  following  letter  from  the 
Hon.  Alexander  H.  Bullock  to  the  Chair,  was  offered  as  a  substi- 
tute : 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  had  expected  to  be  present  at  your  festivities  to-day,  in 
commemoration  of  the  years  and  honors  of  the  Old  South,  but  an  unexpected 
engagement  which  I  cannot  control,  requires  me  to  be  absent. 


78 

I  pray  you  to  assure  your  brethren  parishioners  of  the  respectful  and  cor- 
dial sympathy  which,  if  present,  it  would  be  my  pleasure  to  express  in  my 
own  behalf  and  for  the  society  with  which  I  am  connected.  I  have  lived  too 
long  in  this  town  to  be  indifferent  to  the  annals  and  traditions  of  your  vener- 
able and  consecrated  parish,  associated  as  it  is  with  all  that  is  puA  in  morals, 
or  inspiring  in  patriotism,  or  elevating  in  social  life.  As  a  citizen  of  Worces- 
ter I  claim  to  share  in  the  benefits  and  renown  which  her  historic  names  have 
conferred  upon  this  community,  and  it  is  my  misfortune  not  to  be  able  in  per- 
son to  make  known  more  fully  my  respect  for  all  that  has  been  done  by  the 
Old  South  to  endear  her  to  every  inhabitant.  Permit  me  to  say  that  I  rejoice 
with  you  in  the  new  lease  of  life  and  prosperity  which  the  ancient  parish  now 
takes  under  the  pastorate  of  him  who  has  recently  been  called  to  minister  at 
her  altar.     May  her  light  be  perpetual ! 

I  am,  sir,  faithfully  yours, 

ALEX.  H.  BULLOCK. 
Hon.  Ira  M.  Barton,  Prest.,  &c.,  &c. 

A  letter  was  also  received  by  the  Committee  from  the  Eev. 
Eufus  A.  Putnam,  of  Pembroke,  N.  H.,  stating  that  a  little  over 
half  a  century  ago,  he  was  a  resident  of  Worcester,  and  "heard 
the  prayers  and  teachings  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Austin."  He 
expressed  great  interest  in  the  Celebration,  to  which  he  was  in- 
vited, and  invoked  the  blessings  of  God  upon  the  church  and  peo- 
ple for  many  centuries  to  come.  But  the  feeble  state  of  his  health 
would  forbid  his  presence  on  the  interesting  occasion. 

The  Chair  respectfully  alluded  to  the  Methodist  Churches, 
which  though  comparatively  of  recent  origin,  were  among  the 
most  numerous  and  useful  in  the  city.  Their  presence  having 
been  invited  through  their  clergymen,  the  following  sentiment  was 
given,  alluding  to  their  oldest  church  and  the  nearest  neighbor  to 
the  Old  South. 

20.   The  Park  Street  Church :    Like 

*  "  Siloa's  brook,  that  flowed  ^ 

Fast  by  the  oracle  ot  God." 

May  the  flow  of  its  healing  waters  be  perennial. 

The  pleasure  of  a  response-to  this  sentiment  from  the  Eev.  Dan- 
iel E.  Chapin,  the  minister  of  the  Park  Street  Church,  was  proba- 
bly prevented  by  the  lateness  of  the  hour. 

In  the  course  of  the  evening,  Mr.  George  Hobbs,  2d.,  an  intelli- 
gent young  gentleman  of  the  parish,  read  a  poem,  concluding 
with  the  following  pleasant  apostrophe  to  the  Old  South  Church. 


79 

A  century  now  gone  !     How  chang'd 
The  scene  where  once  the  quiet  hamlet  lay, 
And  thou,  with  regal  right,  then  reign'd 
Supreme.     But  time,  art,  progress,  sped  the  day 
f    That  triumphed  in  a  City's  birth  : 
And  now  her  mantling  structures  tow'r 
High  o'er  the  scene,  and  scarce  of  worth 
Save  thee,  stands  vestige  of  primeval  hour. 

Long  in  thy  pristine  glory  stand  ; 
Thy  clock  true  vigil  keep  ;  thy  bell  long  peal 
«        For  worship  pure,  and  through  the  land 

Still  louder,  longer,  sound  our  country's  weal. 
Peace  be  within  thy  walls  ;  and  'round 
Thee  blessings  still ;  let  Sabbath's  first  sweet  rays 
Long  kiss  thy  spire,  and  gospel  sound 
*         Speed  on  thee,  brighter,  halcyon  days. 

The  company  were  gratified  at  the  presence  of  the  Eev.  David 
Perr}^  of  Brookficld,  Yt.,  the  Eev.  Clarendon  Waite  of  Eutland, 
respected  sons  of  the  Old  South ;  the  Eev.  J.  D.  E.  Jones,  the  Super- 
intendent of  the  City  Schools,  and  the  Eev.  Samuel  Souther,  the 
former  City  Missionary;  and  in  closing  the  interesting  exercises 
of  the  occasion,  the  sole  regret  was,  that  the  lateness  of  the  hour, 
ten  o'clock,  deprived  the  company  of  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from 
many  of  the  invited  guests. 

The  Band  played  the  air  of  "  Sweet  Home,"  and  the  company 
slowly  retired,  feeling  and  saying  that  they  had  enjoyed  a  good 
and  profitable  season. 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 


The  late  William  Lincoln  Esq.,  in  his  History  of  Worcester, 
published  in  1836,  gave  a  full  and  faithful  account  of  the  First 
Parish  and  its  meeting  house,  and  Charles  Hcrsey,  Esq.,  has 
recently  published  a  new  edition  of  that  valuable  work,  with  a 
supplement.  The  work  has  been  extensively  circulated  in  this 
community,  and  the  Committee,  therefore,  appointed  for  the  pur- 
pose, have  confined  their  attention  mainly  to  such  additional  facts, 
as  have  fallen  within  their  reach. 

1.  The  Model  of  our  Old  South. — We  are  under  renewed  obliga- 
tions to  the  Eev.  George  Allen,  of  Worcester,  for  a  reference  to 
the  History  of  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston,  by  the  Eev. 
Benjamin  B.  Wisner,  1).  D.,  the  former  pastor,  published  in  1830. 
That  church  was  first  occupied  for  public  worship,  April  26,  O.  S. 
1730.  And  it  appears  from  a  plan  of  the  interior  of  it,  accom- 
panying the  historical  notes  of  Dr.  Wisner,  that  the  Old  South 
of  Boston  was  almost  an  exact  model  of  the  Old  South  of  Wor- 
cester, erected  thirty-three  years  afterwards.  This  fact  may 
detract  from  the  credit  of  the  Worcester  architects  for  originality, 
but  certainly  not  for  good  taste,  for  both  churches  were  amongst 
the  most  comely  and  convenient  of  their  day. 

2.  Original  Owners  of  the  Feivs. — Before  the  attention  of  the 
Publishing  Committee  was  called  to  the  plan  annexed  to  the 
work  of  Dr.  Wisner,  they  had  thought  of  publishing  a  copy  of 
the  ancient  plan  of  the  interior  of  our  church  referred  to  by  the 
President  in  his  int.roductorj^  remarks;  but  they  are  dissuaded 
from  doing  so,  by  a  consideration  of  the  inconvenience  of  pub- 

11 


82 


lishing  the  requisite  folio  sheet  to  accompany  a  book,  especially  in 
the  pamphlet  form.  And  they  content  themselves,  and  hope  to 
satisfy  the  public,  by  giving  a  handsome  frontispiece,  exhibiting  a 
northwest  view  of  the  exterior  of  their  church,  and  the  following 
list  of  the  original  proprietors  of  the  sixty-one  pews  on  the  floor. 
It  is  proposed  by  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  to  suspend 
their  plan  referred  to,  upon  the  walls  of  the  Chapel,  so  that  by  a 
reference  to  it,  the  location  of  the  .pew  of  any  original  proprie- 
tor, may  be  readily  seen. 

Names  of  the  Original  Peivholders  in  the  First  Church  in 
Worcester, 


John  Chandler,  Esq.,  18 

Jacob  Hemingway,  17 
Daniel  and  Abel  Hey- 

wood,  19 

Francis  Harrington,  16 
Elisha     and     Robert 

Smith,  20 

Josiah  Harrington,  15 

Robert  Barber,  21 

Daniel  Ward,  14 

Tyrus  Rice,  13 

Daniel  McFarland,  49 

James  Putnam,  Esq.,  45 

James  McHiirland,  48 
Gershom  and  Comfort 

Rice,  46 

Jonathan  Stone,  47 

Jacob  Chamberlin,  22 

Joshua  Whitney  12 

Elisha  Smith,  Jr.,  28 

Nathaniel  Moore,  11 

John  Curtis,  51 


Thomas  Stearns,  44 

Isaac  Gleason,  24 

Nathan  Perry,  10 

Josiah  Brewer,  Esq.,  54 

John  Boyden,  43 

Samuel  Miller,  25 

Joseph  Clark,  Jr.,  9 

Luke  Brown,  63 

Daniel  Boyden  42 

James  Goodwin,  53 

Thomas  Rice,  38 

Matthew  Grav,  56 

John  Chaddick,  39 

Benjamin  Flagg,  55 

David  Bancroft,  40 

William  McFarland,  54 

Samuel  Curtis,  41 

Josiah  Pierce,  46 

James  Nichols,  8 

Robert  Gray,  Jr.,  61 

Ebenezer  Lovell,  34 
Jonathan  and   David 

Fisk,  60 

Asa  Moore,  35 


Joseph  Blair,  59 

John  Mower,  36 

Isaac  Moore,  58 

Thomas  Parker,  37 

Ezekiel  How,  27 

John  Chandler,  Esq., 
assignee  of  Asa 
Flagg,  7 

Samuel  Hunt,  assignee 

of  Thomas  Cowden,  28 
John  Mahan,  6 

Timothy  Paine,  Esq.,  33 
Nathaniel  Adanfs,  1 

John  Chandler,  Esq.,  32 
Gardner  Chandler,  Esq., 2 
Samuel  Mower,  31 

James  Brown,  3 

Jacob  Holmes,  30 

Thomas  Wheeler,  4 

Israel  Jenison,  29 

John  Chandler,  Esq.,  5 
Town's  pew,  50 


'3.  Location  and  materials  of  the  House. — After  much  delay,  the 
definite  location  of  thd  ''  new  Meeting  House''  was  fixed  by  the 
following  action  of  the  town. 

"  At  a  Town  meeting  held  at  the  meeting  House  in  Worcester  after  due  warning 
on  ye  I8th  May,  1763." 

"  Upon  the  fifth  article  in  the  warrant  relative  to  the  alteration  of  the  Place 
for  the  New  Meeting  House  the  Question  being  put  if  the  Town  would  give  or- 
der for  setting  Sd  House  on  ye  Gravelly  Knole  between  Mr.  Putnams  and  the 
Burying  Place  and  it  passed  in  the  negative.      Thereupon 

Voted — that  the  Comittee  for  Building  the  New  Meeting  House,  as  soon  as 
may  be  pull  Down  the  Old  Meeting  House  and  save  what  stuff  they  can,  and 


88  ^ 

that  the  New  Meeting  House  be  sett  on  ye  spot  where  the  old  one  stands,  as 
may  be  convenient,  and  that  the  new  House  Front  ye  Country  Road.  Former 
votes  of  the  Town  in  March,  1762,  Notwithstanding." 

"  Voted,  That  the  sd  Comittee  Hire  a  suitable  Number  of  men  to  Raise  the 
New  meeting  House  in  the  cheapest  manner  they  can,  and  that  th'ere  be  no 
Public  Entertainment." 

[A  copy  of  the  record, 

Attest,  SAMUEL  SMITH,  City  Clerk.] 

Though  the  building  Committee  were  prudently  instructed  to 
save  what  stuff  they  could  from  the  Old  Meeting  House  erected  in 
1719,  it  is  not  probable  that  much  of  it  was  wrought  into  the  new 
House.  It  is  a  reliable  tradition  that  the  principal  part  of  the 
timbers  for  the  new  House  was  taken  from  the  wood»» extending 
south,  southeast  from  Washington  Square,  in  the  direction  of  Union 
Hill.  It  is  said,  however,  that  some  was  obtained  from  Tatnuck 
and  other  quarters. 

The  timbers  of  the  House  are  very  large  and  substantial.  This 
fact  accounts  for  the  remarkable  state  of  preservation  in  which  we 
now  find  it.  Whoever  sees  the  exposed  timbers  of  the  attic,  will 
cease  to  wonder  that  the  town  directed  the  committee  to  em- 
ploy picked  men  for  the  raising,  and  they  will  also  be  prepared  to 
credit  the  tradition,  that  it  became  necessary  to  invite  men 
from  Boston,  with  their  appropriate  mechanical  tackle,  to  aid  in 
the  work. 

It  appears  that  the  old  House  was  demolished  without  much 
ceremony.  Soon  after  the  erection  of  the  new  House,  the  records 
of  the  town  show  that  the  remaining  materials  of  the  old  House 
were  sold  at  auction,  and  it  is  not  known'that  a^fragment  of  them 
now  exists,  except  the  printing  blocks  of  Peter  Stowell,  before 
referred  to. 

So  intent  were  the  men  of  Worcester  in  their  enterprise  forget- 
ting up  a  new  Meeting  House,  that  they  appear  to  have  lost  no 
time  in  the  manifestation  of  regret  at  the  loss  of  the  old  one,  which 
had  been  consecrated  bj^  their  devotions  for  more  than  forty 
years,  Not  so  with  the  fathers  of  the  Old  South  in  Boston.  Fri- 
day, the  28th  of  P^ebruary,  O.  S.,  1728-9,  they  observed  as  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer,  on  the  occasion  of  taking  down  their  old 
Meeting  House,  erected  in  1669,  and  erecting  a  new,  and  the  pres- 
ent House,  on  the  same  ground.  Their  senior  pastor,  the  "good 
Dr,  Sewall/'  informs  us  in  his  journal,  that  "  the  day  was  observed 


•  84 

as  a  day  of  prn5^r,  by  the  South  Chh.  and  congregn.,  to  humble 
ymsolvcs  before  ye  Ld.  and  ask  his  y^resence  in  ye  difficult  and 
momentous  affair  in  wch  3-3^  are  engag'd.  A.  M.,  Mr.  Foxcroft  be- 
gan with  j^rayr.  P.  M.,  Mr.  Coleman.  A.  M.,  Mr.  Prince,  [his  col- 
league] preaeh'd  from  Sam.  3.  41.  I  preach'd  P.  M.  from  Ps.  127. 1. 
I  hope  we  had  ye  tokens  of  G-'s  gracious  presence  with  us.  Ye 
congregation  generally  attended,  and  many  others^with  jm.  I 
hope  G.  enabled  me,  in  public  and  private,  to  look  earnestly  to  him 
ys  day.     O  L'd.  hear,  forge'  and  doe  as  the  matter  may  require." 

4.  First  Occupancy  of  our  Church. — The  President  cautiously 
said  in  his  introductory  remarks  that  it  did  not  appear  that  our 
Old  South  ^as  ever  formally  dedicated;  implying  a  doubt  whpth- 
er  there  could  have  been  such  a  variance  from  modern  usage, 
when  almost  every  public  structure  is  dediciited,  whether  sacred 
or  profane.  But  Dr.  Wisner  asserts  that  the  Boston  Old  South 
*'  was  not  dedicated  in  the  manner  now  practiced,  but  was  first  oc. 
cupied  on  the  Sabbath  April  26, — corresponding  to  May  7,  N.  S. 
1730."  So  that  the  omission  of  a  formal  dedication  of  our  Old 
South  in  17C3  appears  to  be  sanctioned  by  the  usage  of  the  age 
in  which  it  was  erected. 

The  similaritj^  of  manner  in  which  religious  services  were  first 
held  in  the  old  South  of  Boston,  and  the  Old  South  of  Worcester, 
is  worth  noticing.  Dr.  Wisner  sa^-s  that  on  the  day  of  the  first 
occupancy  of  the  Boston  Old  South, "  Mr.  Sewall  preached  in  the 
morning  from  Haggai,  3:9.  *'  The  glor^^  of  this  latter  House  shall 
be  greater  than  the  glory  of  the  former,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts; 
and  in  this  place  will  1  give  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  "  In  the 
aiternoon,  Mr.  Prince  preached  from  Psalm  5:7.  *  As  for  me,  I 
will  come  into  thy  house  in  the  multitude  of  thy  mercy;  and  in 
thy  fear  will  I  worship  toward  thy  holy  temple.'  " 

The  Pev.  Mr.  Maccarty  on  the  first  occupancy  of  his  Old  South, 
preached  from  1.  Chronicles,  29  :  16,  17.  "  O  Lord,  our  God,  all  this 
store  that  we  have  prepared  to  build  thee  an  house  for  thine  holy 
name,  cometh  of  thine  hand,  and  it  is  all  thine  own." 

*'I  know,  also,  my  God,  that  thou  tricst  the  heart,  and  hast 
pleasure  in  uprightness.  As  for  me,  in  the  uprightness  of  mine 
heart,  1  have  willingly  offered  all  these  things:  and  now  have  I 
seen  with  joy  thy  people,  which  are  present  here,  to  oflTer  willingly 
unto  thee." 


•  85 

5.  Addition  to  the  Material  History  of  the  Church. — It  was  the 
desig;i  of  the  President  in  liis  introductory  remarks,  to  give  a 
succinct  material  history  of  the  Old  South.  Upon  recurrence  to 
them,  but  little,  essential  to  such  a  history  appears  to  have  been 
omitted.  But  for  the  sake  of  completeness,  the  Committee  add 
from  Lincoln's  history  the  fiicts,  that  the  present  bell  of  the 
Church  was  cast  by  Revere  &  Sons  of  Boston,  in  1802.  It  weighs 
1975  pounds,  and  bears  the  inscription, 

"  The  living  to  the  church  I  call, 
And  to  the  grave  I  summon  all." 

May  its  first  delightful  service  be  long  continued  !  It  has  been 
relieved  from  its  last  solemn  service,  ever  since  the  year  1856, 
under  the  mayoralty  of  the  Hon.  Isaac  Davis. 

The  clock  in  the  bell  tower  was  made  by  Abel  Stowell  in  1800. 

The  blinds  were  put  upon  the  the  windows  of  the  Church,  at 
the  time  the  alterations  were  made  in  1828. 

6.  Decorations  of  the  Church  on  the  Anniversary. — In  addition  to 
those  alluded  to  by  the  President,  were  a  fine  painting  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  James,  with  miniature  likenesses  of  ftU  the  other  minis- 
ters of  the  parish,  since  the  days  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Austin.  It  was 
a  matter  of  much  regret  that  none  of  Dr.  Austin  could  be  found. 
We  find  in  the  fact,  proof  of  modern  improvement  of  taste,  in 
preserving  those  works  of  art,  to  aid  in  the  recollection  of  absent 
or  deceased  friends.  The  likenesses  referred  to  were  suspended  in 
front  of  the  galleries  upon  each  side  of  the  pulpit. 

Suspended  from  the  drapery  in  the  rear  of  the  pulpit,  was  an 
oblong  floral  design,  with  an  evergreen  ground,  festooned  at  the 
lower  edge.  In  the  centre,  wrought  with  the  white  blossoms  of 
the  life  everlasting,  were  the  conspicuous  figures  1763.  At  the 
front  corners  of  the  pulpit,  were  placed  ^o  bouquets.  These 
works  of  art  were  the  productions  of  a  yomig  gentleman  of  the 
congregation. 

7.  Music  on  the  Occasion. — The  order  and  style  of  the  music  on 
the  occasion,  was  the  conception  of  Edward  Hamilton,  Esq.,  the 
former  talented  Director  of  the  Old  South  choir.  It  was  a 
dramatic  history  of  Church  Psalmody ;  and  without  any  previ- 
ous concert  upon  the  subject,  very  aptly  illustrated  the  remarks 
of  Dr.  Bacon. 

The  practice  of  singing  "  in  the  usual  way,"  by  lining  off  to 
the  congregation,  by  the  deacon,  prevailed  in  Worcester  till  1779. 


86  • 

But  we  are  informed  by  Dr.  Wisner  in  his  history  of  the  Old 
South  in  Boston,  that  the  change  in  singing  there,  froni  the 
usual  to  the  rulable  way,  took  place  in  1768,  five  years  before  the 
erection  ol  our  church.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  reform 
was  about  twenty  years  in  travelling  from  Boston  to  Worcester; 
no  more  than  what  we  should  expect  in  the  tardy  locomotion  of 
things  spiritual  as  well  as  material  at  that  period. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  change  took  place  at  the  Old 
South  in  Boston,  on  the  Sabbath  on  which  Dr.  Sewell  delivered  a 
funeral  discourse,  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  his  venerable 
colleague.  Dr.  Prince,  who  died  December  22d,  1758.  On  that 
occasion  "  the  Eevisal  of  the  Psalms,"  by  Dr.  Prince  was  first 
introduced  in  public  worship.  Dr.  Wisner  states  in  a  note  to  his 
history,  at  page  31,  "  that  it  appeared  from  the  records,  that  the 
jDractice  of  reading  and  singing  line  by  line  had  been  continued 
till  this  time ;  in  commencing  the  use  of  the  Eevisal,  it  was,  by  a 
vote  of  the  Church,  discontinued." 

The  vote  referred  to  was  by  the  Church  and  congregation,  as 
follows  :  "  Thatyege  Psalms  be  sung  without  reading  line  by  line 
as  has  been  usual,  except  on  evening  lectures  and  on  extraordi- 
nary occasions  w'n  ye  assembly  can't  be  generally  furnished  with 
books." 

Though  this  change  in  the  mode  of  conducting  church  music, 
was  not  fully  eff'ected  in  Worcester  till  1779,  yet  it  is  true  as 
stated  by  Dr.  Bacon  in  his  discourse,  that  strenuous  eftbrts  were 
made  by  the  people  in  that  direction  for  many  years  before. 

The  committee  deem  it  proper  to  remark,  that  the  quaint  hymn, 
rendered  after  the  manner  of  1763,  was  received  by  the  large  con- 
gregation standing  and  facing  the  pulpit,  with  the  utmost  gravity 
and  propriety.  And  as  to  the  choice  and  beautiful  concluding 
hymn,  suggested  by#ie  analogy  of  the  occasion  to  the  century 
plant,  and  rendered  by  the  organ  and  full  choir,  in  the  approved 
manner  of  modern  church  music,  it  need  only  be  said,  that  it 
inspired  the  admiration  of  all  who  heard  it. 

8.  The  Organ.— The  introduction  of  the  organ  in  1846,  is  an 
era  in  the  musical  history  of  the  Old  South.  Previous  to  that 
time  the  choir  had  been  aided  by  powerful  "stringed  instru- 
ments," as  humorously  described  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nelson  in  his 
letter  to  us.     But  since  the  introduction  of  the  organ,  the  big  bass 


87 

viol  and  its  smaller  stringed  accompaniments,  have  all  disappeared, 

and,  although  scarcely  twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  change, 
they  are  now  sought  only  as  relics  of  antiquity,  to  be  brought 
forth  on  some  centennial  occasion.  As  such  they  were  brought 
forth  at  our  anniversary,  in  illustration  of  church  music  at  the 
commencement  of  the  present  centuia^  And  old  "  Northfield,"  in 
its  palmiest  days,  was  never  enacted  with  its  fantastic  fugues,  in 
more  effective  style. 

At  an  earl}^  period,  the  puritanical  sects  had  strong  religious 
scruples  about  introducing  any  instrumental  music  in  their  devo- 
tions. And  one  respectable  sect,  the  six  principal  Baptists,  that 
settled  in  Bristol  County,  in  the  Plymouth  colony  and  the  neigh- 
boring parts  of  Ehode  Island,  according  to  Backus  in  his  Church 
History,  did  not  allow,  previous  to  the  American  Eevolution,  any 
music  in  their  religious  meetings.  And  they  hence  received  the 
designation  of  "  anti-singing  Baptists."  But  the  scruples  as  to  the 
use  of  instrumental  music  in  church  services,  was  much  more 
pervading.  And  it  is  noticeable  that  the  controversy  upon  that 
subject  in  this  country,  was  flagrant  when^the  Old  South  church 
was  built  in  1763. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  original  merits  of  this  contro- 
versy, so  far,  at  least,  as  the  organ  is  concerned,  that  has  received 
a  unanimous  verdict  in  its  favor.  And  the  charming  poet  of  the 
"  Seasons,"  has  chanted  its  triumph,  in  one  of  his  sweetest  strains  : 

"  Yet  Chief  for  whom  the  whole  creation  smiles  ; 

At  once  the  head,  the  heart,  the  tongue  of  all ; 

Crown  the  great  hymn  1     In  swarming  cities  vast, 

Assembled  men,  to  the  deep  organ  join 

The  long  resounding  voice,  oft  breaking  clear. 

At  solemn  pauses,  through  the  swelling  base  j 

•  And  as  each  minghng  flame  increases  each. 

In  one  united  jydor,  rise  to  heaven." 
Some  allusion  to  this  controversy  seemed  proper  in  a  notice  of 
the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  the  churches  of  puritanical 
origin.  And  we  close  this  notice,  by  a  letter  upon  the  subject, 
from  the  learned  and  obliging  Librarian  of  the  American  Anti- 
quarian Society . 

Hon.  Ira  M.  Barton, 

Dear  Sir  : — I  enclose  the  memorandum  I  mentioned  respecting  the  discus- 
sions on  the  subject  of  church  music.    It  seemed  to  me  that  the  year  1763  was 


88 

the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  relation  to  the  use  of  instruments  in  public  wor- 
ship, more  particularly  organs,  of  which  two  were  ordered,  I  think,  for  Phil- 
adelphia in  that  year  by  the  Episcopalians. 

Very  truly  yours, 

S.  F.  HAVEN. 

In  the  year  that  the  Old  South  meeting  house  in  Worcester  was  erected, 
(1763)  a  pamphlet  was  printedtfji  Philadelphia,  entitled  "  The  Lawfulness, 
Excellency,  and  Advantage,  of  Instrumental  Music  in  the  Public  Worship  of 
God,  urged  and  enforced  from  Scripture,  and  the  example  of  the  far  greater 
part  of  Christians  in  all  ages."     "By  a  Presbyterian." 

The  writer  says,  "  I  shall  not  wonder  if  the  attempt  I  am  making  towards 
introducing  the  use  of  instrumental  music  into  the  worship  of  those  societies 
who  have  hitherto  been  taught  to  look  ypon  such  as  unlawful  and  unscriptural, 
should  be  attended  with  the  same  opposition  with  the  promulgation  of  the  gos- . 
pel  itself."  He  states  that  St.  Paul's  church,  Philadelphia,  is  the  only  Eng- 
lish congregation  in  that  Province  that  has  an  organ. 

The  writer's  zeal  seems  to  have  been  excited  by  the  opposition  he  anticipated, 
and  he  makes  the  most  of  scriptural  sanction.  He  -tells  us  that  long  before 
the  flood  Jubal  followed  the  making  of  organs  as  a  trade  ;  and  that  at  the 
dedication  of  Solomon's  temple  the  great  Concert  of  Praise  was  enlivened  with 
"  an  hundred  and  twenty  trumpets,  assisted  by  a  proportionable  number  of 
other  kinds  of  musical  instruments  —  among  which  we  may  rest  assured  the 
well  toned  organ  found  a  place."  % 

This  pamphlet  not  only  exhibits  the  general  opposition  that  prevailed  against 
the  use  of  organs  and  other  instruments  of  music  in  churches  at  that  date, 
1763,  but  also  indicated  the  beginning  of  a  movement  among  cougregational- 
ists  in  favor  of  their  introduction. 

So  late  as  1786,  "A  Tractate  on  Church  Music, "  extracted  from  Price's 
Vindication  of  Dissentors,  was  reprinted  in  London  under  the  sanction  and 
recommendation  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Price  and  Dr.  Kippis,  and  inscribed  to 
Rev.  Dr.  Chauncey  and  Rev.  Mr.  John  Clark,  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  in  Boston. 

This  tract,  which  is  a  very  learned  one,  goes  profoundly  into  the  usages  of 
the  ancient  churches,  and  undertakes  to  prove  that  the  use  of  musical  instru- 
ments in  the  Christian  church  receives  no  sanction  from  antiquity.  The  HoW 
ilies  of  the  Church  of  England  are  quoted  as  bearing  testimony  against  them  ; 
and  it  is  stated  that  Luther  "reckoned  organs  among  the  ensigns  of  Baal." 
That  musical  instruments  were  allowed  and  even  prescribed  in  the  worship  of 
the  Jews  is  admitted,  but  they  are  regarded  as  holding  the  same  place  with 
many  of  the  ceremonials  which  were  "  condescended  "  to  that  people  on 
account  of  their  weakness  and  childishness. 

9.  Versions  of  the  Psalms  used  at  the  Old  South. — The  Psalm  sung 
by  the  choir  in  the  "  usual  way  "  of  1763,  was  a  version  of  Psalm 


80 

103,  verses  17 — 22 ;  which,  in  our  common  English  Bible,  is  as 

follows  : 

17.  But  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting 
upon  them  that  fear  him,  and  his  righteousness  unto  children's 
children. 

18.  To  such  as  keep  his  covenant,  and  to  those  that  remember 
his  commandments  to  do  them. 

19.  The  Lord  hath  prepared  his  throne  in  the  heavens,  and  his 
kingdom  ruleth  over  ail. 

20.  Bless  the  Lord,  3-0  his  angels,  that  excel  in  strength,  that  do 
his  commandments,  hearkening  unto  the  voice  of  his  word. 

21.  Bless  ye  the  Lord,  all  ye  his  hosts  ;  ye  ministers -of  his  that 
do  his  pleasure. 

22.  Bless  the  Lord,  all  his  works  in  all  places  of  his  dominion  : 
bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul. 

The  following  is  a  literal  copy  of  the  version  of  the  abovq 
psalm  by  Richard  Mather  of  Dorchester,  and  the  "  Apostle  Eliot," 
and  his  colleague,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Welde  of  Roxburj',  found  in  the 
library  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society.  It  was  published 
in  1640,  and  was  "printed  by  Steeven  Laye  at  our  Cambridge." 
Dr.  Thomas,  in  his  History  of  Printing,  says  it  was  the  first  book 
printed  in  this  country;  though  printing  had  been  introduced 
before  in  some  parts  of  Spanish  America  : 

"  But  yet  Gods  mercy  ever  is 

shall  be  &  aye  hath  been 
to  them  that  fear  him  ;  aud'a  justice 

unto  childrens  children. 

To  such  as  keepe  his  covenant,  * 

that  do  in  miude  up  lay 
the  charge  of  his  commandement 

that  it  they  may  obey. 

The  Lord  hath  in  the  heavens  bye 

established  his  throne 
and  over  all  his  Royallty 

doth  beare  dominion. 

0  yee  his  Angells  that  excell 

in  strength  blesse  yee  the  Lord 
that  doe  his  word,  that  harken  well 

unto  the  voyce  of 's  word. 


m 

All  yee  that  are  the  Lords  armies 

0  bless  Jehovah  still  : 
&  all  ye  ministers  of  his 

his  pleasure  that  fulfill. 

Yea  all  his  works  in  places  all 

of  his  dominion, 
blesse  yee  Jehovah  :  0  my  soul, 

Jehovah  blesse  alone.^^ 

This  version  appears  not  to  have  commended  itself  to  universal 
favor.  The  muses  were  probably  not  over  propitious  to  Hichard 
Mather,  and  the  learning  of  Eliot  in  the  Indian  languages,  would 
not  be  likely  to  improve  his  English  versification.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Shepard  of  Cambridge,  reflected  rather  cavalierly  upon  the  rever- 
end authors  in  the  following  stanza : 

Ye  Roxbury  poets,  keep  clear  of  the  crime 

Of  missing  to  give  us  very  good  rhyme  ; 

And  you  of  Dorchester,  your  verses  lengthen. 

But  with  the  text's  own  words  you  will  them  strengthen. 
Perhaps  we  ought  to  make  amends  for  giving  currency  to  this 
aspersion  upon  the  poetic   character  of  Richard  Mather,  and  for 
that  purpose,  we  give  the  favoring  testimony  found  in  the  epitaph 
on  his  monument  in  the  ancient  graveyard  in  Dorchester: 

"  Divinely  rich  and  learned  Richard  Mather, 
Sons  like  him,  prophets  great,  rejoic'd  this  father. 
Short  time  his  sleeping  dust's  here's  covered  down, 
Not  so  his  ascended  spirit  or  renown." 
"  Ob.  Apr.  22,  1669,  ^tatis  sua3  73." 

And  to  prove  that  the  New  England  version  of  the  Psalms  was 
as  good  as  other  pjoetry  of  the  day,  we  give  the  contemporaneous 
epitaph  of  Major  General  Atherton,  found  in  the  same  graveyard  ; 
Here  lyes  ovr  captaine  and  maior  of  Svffolk  was  withall 

A  GODLY  magistrate  WAS  HE  AND  MaIOR  GeNERALL 

Two  trovps  of  hors  with  hime  here  came  such  worth  his  love  did  crave 
Ten  companyes  also  movrning  mahcht  to  his  grave 
Let  all  that  read  be  svre  to  keep  the  faith  as  he  hath  done 
With  Christ  he  livs  now  crown'd  his  name  was  Hvmphry  Atherton. 
He  dyed  the  16  of  September,  1661. 

In  1650  the  New  England  version  was  revised  and  improved  by 
Presidctit  Dunster  of  Harvard  College  and  Mr.  J^icliard  Lyon; 
and  Dr.  Thomas   says   the   same   passed   through  fifty  editions. 


91 

Tho  degree  of  perfection  to  which  the  version  had  arrived  in  1762, 
will  appear  by  reference  to  the  specimen  on  page  54,  lined  off  to 
the  congregation  in  tho  Church. 

The  version  of  1758,  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  Prince,  he  states  to  have 
been  "  an  endeavor  after  a  yet  nearer  approach  to  the  insjnred 
original  as  well  as  the  rules  of  poetry." 

Dr.  Prince  subjoined  to  his  revisal,  a  few  of  the  spiritual  songs 
of  Dr.  Watts  ;  but  he  could  not  tolerate  the  poetic  license  taken 
by  him  in  his  version  of  the  Psalms. 

The  complete  English  version  of  the  Psalms  by  Tate  and  Brady, 
was  published  by  ro3^al  permission,  in  1698,  and  the  same  is  now 
in  use  in  the  English  Church,  and  by  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  tho  United  States.  Their  version  of  the  portion  of  the 
lOod.  Psalm  referred  to,  may  readily  be  seen  by  turning  to  the 
Common  Prayer  Book,  and  it  is  not  here  inserted.  About  the 
time  of  the  erection  of  the  Old  vSouth  Church,  the  version  of 
Tate  and  Brady  superseded  the  New  England  Psalm  and  Hymn 
Book.* 

The  version  of  the  Psalms  by  Tate  and  Brady  continued  in  use 
in  our  Church  till  the  year  1790. 

The  adoption  of  the  version  of  the  Psalms  by  Dr.  Watts,  and  of  a 
church  creed,  signalized  the  commencement  of  the  administration 
of  the  Pev.  Samuel  Austin.  By  his  influence  the  change  in  the 
psalmody  of  the  Church  appears  to  have  been  effected  without 
controversy.  But  cx-Gov.  Washburn,  in  his  history  of  Leicester, 
sa^'s,  that  the  version  of  Watts  w^as  not  generally  adopted  till 
after  the  revolution,  "and  then  only  after  a  long  and  violent 
struggle."     And  the  Hon.  James  Draper,  in  his  history  of  Spencer, 

■^For  this  fact  we  have  the  authority  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  probably  derived 
it  from  the  records  of  the  Church  which  he  had  in  his  hands  while  compiling 
his  valuable  history  ot  Worcester.  Those  records,  from  1716  to  1816,  have 
most  unfortunately  been  mislaid  or  lost.  Should  this  note  lead  to  their  discov- 
ery, it  will  save  a  very  valuable  source  of  local  church  history. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  testimony  is  corroborated  by  the  fact  that  in  1762  an  edition 
of  the  version  of  Tate  and  Brady  was  published  in  Boston,  with  an  "  appendix 
containing  a  number  of  hymns  taken  chiefly  from  Dr.  AVatts'  Scriptural  Col- 
lection ;"  that  a  well-worn  copy  of  that  edition  has  come  down  from  Mr.  Mac- 
carty  to  his  great  granddaughter,  Mrs.  H.  K.  Newcomb  ;  and  that  in  1788,  an 
edition  of  the  same  work  was  published  in  Worcester  by  Isaiah  Thomas, 
indicating  that  the  version  was  then  in  demand  in  this  county.    , 


informs  ns,  that  in  1761,  the  church  and  congrcfration  of  that 
town  met  and  voted  on.  tlie  claims  to  favor  of  the  different  authors 
of  church  psahnody,  with  the  result  of  thirty-three  for  Sternhold 
and  Hopkins,  fourteen  for  Dr.  Watts,  and  six  for  Tate  and  Brady. 
But  the  author  adds  that  in  1789,  "  the  good  taste  of  the  people 
prevailed,"  and  the  psalms  and  hymns  of  Dr.  Watts  were  adopted. 
The  following  is  his  version  of  the  portion  of  the  103d  Psalm 
above  referred  to  : 

*'  But  his  eternal  love  is  sure 

To  all  the  saints,  and  shall  endure  ; 

From  age  to  age  his  truth  shall  reign, 

Nor  children's  children  hope  in  vain. 

The  Lord  the  sovereign  King 

Hath  fixed  his  throne  on  high  ; 
O'er  all  the  heavenly  world  he  rules 

And  all  beneath  the  sky. 

Ye  angels  great  in  might, 

And  swift  to  do  his  will. 
Bless  ye  the  Lord  whose  voice  ye  hear, 

Whose  pleasure  ye  fulfill. 

Let  the  bright  hosts  who  wait 

The  orders  of  their  King, 
And  guard  his  churches  when  they  pray, 

Join  in  the  praise  they  sing. 

While  all  his  wondrous  works 

Through  his  vast  kingdom  show 
Their  Maker's  glory,  thou  my  soul, 

Shalt  sing  his  praises  too." 

While  we  accord  manifest  poetic  improvement  in  the  version  of 
Dr.  Watts," we  are  impressed  with  the  conviction,  that  no  mere 
poetic  rhjnne  nor  measure  can  equal,  in  point  of  beauty  and 
sublimity,  the  common  version  of  the  Psalms  in  our  Scriptures. 
And  we  record  with  satisfaction,  the  fact,  that,  in  our  Church,  the 
chanting  of  the  Psalms  is  approved  and  increasing. 

The  version  of  the  Psalms  now  used  in  the  Old  South,  was  set 
forth  in  1845  by  President  Day,  Dr.  Bacon,  and  others,  in  behalf 
of  the  General  Association  of  Connecticut.  It  generally  follows 
Dr.  Watts;  but  some  of  the  Psalms,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
subjoined  collection  of  hymns,  are  taken  from  other  authors  of 
sacred  poetry. 


95    . 

10.  Public  Reading  of  the  Scriptures.  —  Mr.  Lincoln  states  in 
his  History  of  Worcester,  at  page  179,  that  "  The  public  reading 
of  a  lesson  from  the  scriptures,  as  a  stated  portion  of  religious 
service,  was  not  introduced  into  New  England  until  near  the  mid- 
dle of  the  last  century;'^  and  that  "the  following  extract  from  the 
records  of  the  church,  shows  the  period  when  it  was  first  com- 
menced hero." 

"  1749,  Sept.  3.  Yoted  that  thanks  be  given  by  the  pastor, 
publicly,  to  the  Hon.  John  Chandler,  Esq.,  for  his  present  of  a 
handsome  foHo  bible  for  the  reading  of  the  scriptures,  which  laudable 
custom  was  very  unanimously  come  into  by  the  church,  at  one  of 
their  meetings  sometime  before." 

The  small  bible,  with  texts  noted,  before  referred  to,  in  the  cabi- 
net of  relics  at  Mechanics  Hall,  (from  which  our  pastor  read  the 
scriptures  on  the  day  of  our  anniversary),  is  of  small  octavo  size, 
and  bears  intrinsic  evidence  of  having  been  much  used  by  Mr. 
Maccarty  in  his  pulpit.  But  what  appears  to  have  been  regarded 
as  a  munificent  bequest  of  the  scriptures  by  Judge  Chandler,  in 
the  folio  form,  no  doubt  provoked  greater  attention  to  the  delight- 
ful part  of  church  services,  that  consists  in  reading  the  scriptures. 
And  all  that  can  properly  be  inferred  from  the  record  of  the 
church  is,  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Maccarty,  with  his  small  octavo  Bible, 
was  not  able  to  read  conveniently  so  much  as  his  people  desired, 
and  their  brother  Chandler  liberally  provided  the  means  for  grati- 
fying their  wishes.  Certainly  it  should  not  be  inferred  that  there 
had  been  any  previous  aversion  to  the  reading  of  the  scriptures  in 
their  public  religious  services ;  but  rather  to  the  contrary. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  order  taken  by  our  Old  South  in  1749, 
for  the  public  reading  of  the  scriptures,  finds  its  precedent  in  a 
corresponding  order  taken  by  the  Old  South  in  Boston,  in  1737. 
According  to  the  Eev.  Dr.  Wisner,  in  a  note  to  page  30,  of  the 
history  of  his  church;  *^  April  24,  1737,  the  brethren  of  the  church 
stay'd,  and  voted,  that  the  holy  Scriptures  be  read  in  public  after 
the  first  pray'r,  in  the  morning  and  afternoon  ;  and  that  it  be  left 
to  the  discretion  of  the  pastor,  what  parts  of  Scripture  to  be  read, 
and  what  to  expound." 

Upon  this  record  Dr.  Wisner  remarks,  "  that  this  was  doubtless 
the  introduction  of  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  public  worship 
in  the  congregation  ;  our  fathers  having  long  abstained  from  the 
commendable  practice,  to  be,  in  this  respect  as  in  others,  as  differ- 


94 

ent  as  possible  from  the  Church  of  England,  which  requires  the 
Scriptures  to  be  read,  and  prescribes  the  portions  for  every  service.'' 
It  woald  falsify  history  to  say  that  the  colonists  had  not  strong 
prejudices  against  the  ceremonials  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Their  legislation  against  Christmas,  the  most  highly  cherished 
festival  of  the  English  Church,  strongly  attests  to  that  fact.  But 
still  the  record  of  the  Boston  Old  South,  and  the  argument  or 
rather  the  assertion  of  Dr.  VVisner,  come  far  short  of  proving  that 
the  colonists  were  averse  to  the  principle  or  practice  of  reading 
the  Scriptures  in  public  worship.  They  only  induce  the  belief  that 
any  prejudices  the  colonists  may  have  had  upon  the  subject,  rela- 
ted not  to  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  but  to  the  forms  of  read- 
ing prescribed  in  the  English  Liturgy.  But  however  that  may 
have  been,  the  enlarged  religious  charity  of  the  age,  and  an  abate- 
ment of  the  imposing  ceremonials  of  the  English  Church  by  its 
successors  in  this  country,  quite  disarm  the  prejudices,  if  any  ever 
existed,  in  the  way  of  a  liberal  public  reading  of  the  Scriptures, 
by  all  sects  that  profess  and  call  themselves  Christians. 

11.  The  Ministers  of  the  Parish. — As  under  the  laws  of  this 
Commonwealth,  ministers  are  recognized  as  holding  an  important 
official  relation  to  the  parish  as  well  as  to  the  church,  some  notice 
of  the  successive  incumbents  of  our  pulpit,  will  not  only  be  proper 
but  expected.  This  notice,  though  complete,  must  necessarily  be 
short,  and  for  the  materials  of  it  we  are  largely  indebted  to  the 
Manuel  of  the  Church,  published  in  1854. 

It  would  be  an  agreeable  service  to  speak  of  the  life  and  charac- 
ter of  the  incumbents  of  our  pulpit,  but  the  limited  extent  of 
these  notes  does  not  admit  it.  We  can  here  only  add  a  few 
.additional  facts  from  which  others  may  perform  the  grateful  ser- 
vice, making  reference  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  History  of  Worcester,  and 
to  the  "  Worcester  Pulpit,"  by  the  late  and  lamented  Eev.  Dr. 
Elam  Smalley,  pastor  of  the  Union  Church,  who  died  at  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  July  30th,  ^1854. 

1.  The  Eev.  Andrew  Gardner  was  the  first  ordained  minister 
of  Worcester.  He  was  a  native  of  Brookline,  Mass.  —  graduated 
at  Harvard  College  in  1712  —  was  settled  at  Worcester  in  the 
fall  of  1719,  when  a  meeting  house  was  erected  on  the  present 
site  of  the  Old  South  ;  and  was  dismissed  by  a  mutual  council, 
Oct.  31st,  1722.     The  Kev.  Peter  Whitney,  in  his  history  of  the 


95 

County  of  Worcester,  states  that  Mr.  Gardner  was  afterwards 
settled  at  Lunenburg,  from  whence ''he  ipoved  up  nigh  to  Con- 
necticut river,  in  New  Hampshire,  where  he  died  in  a  very 
advanced  age." 

2.  The  liev.  Isaac  Burr,  the  second  minister  of  Worcester 
was  born  in  Fairfield,  Conn,  in  1698  —  graduated  at  Yale  College 
in  1717  —  was  ordained  Oct.  30th,  1725  —  was  dismissed,  upon 
the  advice  of  a  mutual  council,  in  March,  1745,  and  afterwards 
removed  to  Windsor,  Vt. 

3.  The  Eev.  Thaddeus  Maccarty  was  born  in  Boston  in  1721 
—  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1739  — was  ordained  at  King- 
ston, Plymouth  county,  Nov.  3d,  1742,  where  he  ministered  three 
years,  and  was  installed  at  Worcester,  June  10th,  1747,  where  he 
died  July  20th,  1784. 

4.  The  Eev.  Samuel  Austin  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Nov.  7th, 
1760 — graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1784  —  was  installed  as 
minister  of  the  First  Parish  in  Worcester,  Sept.  30th,  1790  —  was 
elected  President  of  the  University  of  Vermont  in  1815,  retaining 
a  nominal  relation  to  the  Church  and  parish  in  Worcester —  was 
dismissed  Dec.  23d,  1818,  and  died  at  Glastenbury,  Conn.,  Dec.  4th, 
1830. 

5.  The  Pev.  Charles  A.  Goodrich  was  born  in  Berlin,  Conn. — 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1815  —  was  ordained  at  Worcester 
as  colleague  with  the  Pev.  Dr.  Austin,  July  15th,  1816  —  was  dis- 
missed at  his  own  request,  Nov.  14th,  1820,  and  died  at  Hartford, 
Conn.,  June  4th,  1862. 

6.  The  Rev.  Aretius  B.  Hull  was  born  at  Woodbridge,  Conn. 
Oct.  12th,  1788  — graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1807  — was  or- 
dained at  Worcester,  May  22d,  1821,  and  died  there  May  17th, 
1826.     (See  note  14.) 

7.  The  Pev.  Podney  A.  Miller,  born  at  Troy,  N.Y. — graduated 
at  Union  College  in  1821 — pursued  his  course  of  theological 
studies  at  the  Princeton  Seminary,  N.  J.  —  was  ordained  at 
Worcester,  June  7th,  1827  —  was  dismissed  by  a  mutual  council, 
April  12th,  1854,  and  now  resides  in  Worcester. 

8.  The  Pev.  George  Phillips  Smith  of  South  Woburn,  (now 
Winchester)  Mass.,  was  born  at  Salem,  February  11th,  1814  — 
graduated  at  Amherst  College  in  1835,  and  at  the  AndOver  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  1840  —  was  installed  at  Worcester,  March 
19th,  1845,  and  died  at  Salem,  Sept.  3d,  1852. 


96 


9.  The  Rev.  Horace  James  of  Wrentham,  Mass.,  was  born  in 
Medford,  May  6th,  1818 —graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1840  — 
pursued  a  course  of  theological  study  at  the  New  Haven  and 
Andover  Seminaries  —  was  installed  at  Worcester  Feb.  3d,  1853 
—  was  appointed  chaplain  of  the  25th  regincient  of  Mass.  Volun- 
teers, in  Oct.  1861  —  was  dismissed,  at  his  own  request,  Jan.  8th, 
1863,  and  now  retains  his  connection  with  the  army.  # 

10.  The  Rev.  Edward  Ashley  Walker  of  New  Haven,  Conn, 
was  born  at  that  place  Nov.  24th,  1834  —  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1856  —  pursued  his  theological  course  at  New  Haven, 
and  the  universities  of  Heidelburg  and  Berlin  —  was  installed  at 
Worcester,  July  2d,  1863,  and  is  now  the  minister  of  the  First 
Parish  and  pastor  of  the  Church. 

12.  Deacons  and  Members  of  the  Church.  —  Though  deacons 
sustain  no  relations  to  the  parish,  other  than  that  of  prominent 
members  of  it,  yet  as  they  are  officers  of  the  church,  and  recog- 
nized legal  trustees  of  the  same,  we  here  note  their 

Names. 
Daniel  Heywood, 
Nathaniel  Moore, 
Jonas  Rice, 
Thomas  Wheeler, 
Jacob  Chamberlain, 
Samuel  Miller, 
Nathan  Perry, 
Thomas  Wheeler, 
John  Chamberlain, 
Leonard  Worcester, 
David  Richards, 
Moses  Perry, 
John   Nelson, 
Lewis  Chapin, 
Moses  Brigham, 
Nathaniel  Brooks, 
Nahum  Nixon, 
John  Bixby, 
Richard  Ball, 
Allen   Harris, 
Jonas  M.  Miles, 

Caleb  Dana,  April  4,  1851, 

Samuel  W.  Kent,  January  2,  1861, 

Charles  A.  Lincoln,  February  1,  1861, 

Caleb  Dana,   Clerk.  Richard  Ball,   Treasurer. 

Number  of  members  of  the  Church,  5-57. 

13.  The  Solid  Men  of  Worcester  in  1763.— The  original  sixty-one 
pews  on  the  floor  of  the  Old  South,  were  valued  at  from  nine  pounds 


Election. 

Death. 

Age. 

1716, 

April  12,  1773, 

79 

a 

November  25,  1761, 

84 

January  14,  1748, 

September  20,  1753, 

81 

a         ii         a 

February  1,  1769, 

73 

December  16,  1751, 

March  17,  1790, 

71 

11                 11         u 

September  9,  1759, 

81 

November  5,  1783, 

February  14,  1806, 

88 

u            a      a 

January  12,  1795, 

6Q 

November  15,  1791, 

May  31,  1813, 

68 

October  19,  1797, 

May  28,  1846, 

79 

November  23,  1801, 

January  29,  1829, 

78 

June  18,  1807, 

March  12,  1842, 

80 

April  16,  1812, 

January  14,  1834, 

72 

January  30,  1833, 

Resigned. 

a        u          u 

Resigned. 

August  5,  1836, 

November  3,  1850, 

53 

a      a        u 

August  27,  1850, 

62 

September  30,  1836, 

July  14,  1853, 

81 

September  17,  1845, 

October  1,  1845, 

Resigned. 

a       a      ii 

Resigned. 

97 

to  four  pounds  ten  shillings  each.  Then  the  choice  in  the  pews 
was  given  to  the  inhabitants,  in  the  order  of  the  amount  of  taxes 
paid  by  them  respectively  upon  their  real  estate.  An  order  of 
preference,  one  would  suppose,  better  suited  to  the  latitude  of 
feudal  Old  England,  than  that  of  her  Province.  By  the  repeated 
and  gratuitous  kindness  of  our  City  Clerk,  we  give  a  complete 
list  of  those  feudal  lords  of  Worcester,  in  1763.  A  comparison  of 
this  list  with  the  list  of  the  pewholders  given  in  note  2,  will  show 
that  they  do  not  entirely  coincide;  showing  also,  that  the  tax 
payers  did  not  always  avail  themselves  of  the  right  of  pre-emp- 
tion which  the  vote  of  the  town  gave  them. 

"  At  a  Town  Meeting  held  at  Worcester,  on  ye  14th  Day  of  Dec'r.,  1763, 
one  o'clock  Afternoon,  at  ye  Meeting  House,  by  Adjournment  from  ye  12th  of 
S'd.  Month," 

"  Voted,  that  the  Pew  No.  18  be  granted  to  ye  Home  Stead  Farm  of  ye  late 
Hon'ble.  John  Chandler,  Esq.,  in  consideration  of  his  Donation  towards  Build- 
ing S'd.  House." 

'^  Voted,  That  ye  following  persons  have  their  Choice  of  Sd.  Pews,  &  in  ye 
Order  following,  viz  ; — John  Chandler,  Esq.,  Daniel  &  Abel  Heywood,  Thom- 
as Stearns,  Samuel  Mower,  Josiah  Harrington,  Gershom  &  Comfort  Rice,  Eli- 
sha  &  Robert  Smith,  Nathaniel  Adams,  James  Brown,  Jacob  Hemingway, 
Israel  Jennison,  Joshua  Biglo,  Francis  Harrington,  John  Chandlers  Mill 
Farm,  Gardiner  Chandler,  Esq.,  Nathaniel  Moore,  John  Curtis,  Jonathan 
Stone,  John  Chaddick,  Elisha  Smith,  Jun'r.,  Tim'o.  Paine,  Esq.,  Daniel  Ward, 
John  Boy  den,  Thomas  Rice,  Jacob  Holmes,  Joshua  Whitney,  Joseph  Clark, 
Junr.,  Jacob  Chamberlin,  James  Goodwin,  Thomas  Cowden,  [Ebenezer  Flagg,] 
Robert  Barber,  Ezekiel  How,  James  Putnam,  Esq'r.,  Tyrus  Pice,  Mathew 
Gray,  Isaac  Gleason,  Nathan  Perry,  Thomas  Wheeler,  Daniel  McFarland, 
David  Bancroft,  Samuel  Miller,  Daniel  Boyden,  Benjamin  Flagg,  William 
McFarland,  Luke  Brown,  James  Nichols,  Josiah  Peirce,  Amos  Wheeler,  Asa 
Flagg,  Ebenezer  Lovell,  Samuel  Curtis,  Josiah  Brewer,  Esq'r.,  Thomas  Par- 
ker, Asa  Moored 

A  copy  of  the  record, — 

Attest, — Samuel  Smith,   City  Clerk. 

li.  The  Bev.  Aretius  B.  Hull. — There  has  probably  been  no 
clergyman  of  the  Old  South  Church,  that  is  remembered  with 
more  affectionate  respect  than  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hull.  And  the  pres- 
ence of  his  two  sons,  the  Rev.  Joseph  D.  Hull  of  Hartford,  and 
Aurelius  B.  Hull,  Esq.,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  was  amongst  the  pleas- 
ant incidents  of  our  anniversary  occasion.     Their  father  died  at 

IS 


98 

Worcester  while  they  were  children,  after  a  very  happy  adminis- 
tration of  five  years.  He  was,  at  first,  buried  in  the  Mechanic 
street  burying  ground,  but  his  remains  were  afterwards  removed 
to  the  Worcester  Rural  Cemetery,  and  interred  in  the  lot  of  Dr. 
John  Green,  on  the  east  side  of  the  "  South  Avenue/'  Dr.  Green, 
with  his  accustomed  liberality,  not  only  gave  the  site  for  the 
pious  use,  but  co-operated  with  the  parishioners  of  Mr.  Hull,  in 
erecting  over  his  grave  a  substantial  marble  monument. 

On  the  morning  of  the  anniversary,  before  the  exercises  in  the 
Charch  commenced,  the  two  sons,  with  very  becoming  filial  devo- 
tion, in  company  with  a  friend,  visited  the  grave  of  their  father, 
with  the  assurance  that  upon  their  return  home,  they  should  pay 
like  respect  at  the  grave  of  their  mother  in  New  Haven. 

But  the  principal  object  in  introducing  this  note  is,  to  place  on 
record,  the  epitaph  on  Mr.  Hull's  monument,  which,  we  believe, 
has  never  been  printed.  The  Worcester  Eural  Cemetery  was 
incorporated  in  1838.  But  we  are  not  aware  that  the  inscriptions 
upon  the  monuments  and  headstones  in  that  beautiful  cemetery 
have  ever  been  published.  The  epitaph  on  the  monument  of  Mr. 
Hull,  was  dictated  by  his  friend  and  parishioner,  the  late  Samuel 
Jennison,  Esq.  It  is  remarkable  for  what  does  not  always  char- 
acterize the  literature  of  epitaphs,  t7^uth  and  good  taste. 

THIS  MONUMENT 

IS    ERECTED    TO    COMMEMORATE 

THE    FAITHFUL    SERVICES,    AND    THE    VIRTUOUS 

EXAMPLE    OF    THE 

Rev.    ARETIUS    BEVIL    HULL, 

MINISTER    OF    THE    FIRST 

CONGREGATIONAL  SOCIETY    IN  WORCESTER. 

HE    WAS    BORN    AT    WOODBRIDGE,  CONN. 

OCT.  12,  1788; 

GRADUATED    AT    YALE    COLLEGE    IN    1807, 

WHERE    HE    WAS    SIX    YEARS    A    TUTOR  ; 

AND   WAS  ORDAINED   IN  WORCESTER, 

MAY  22,  1821. 

HE   DIED    MAY    17,    1826,    AGED    38. 


He  endeared  himself  to  the  people  of  his  charge  by  his  affectionate  and 
assiduous  devotion  to  his  ministerial  and  pastoral  duties  ;  while  the  suavity  of 
his  manners,  the  purity  of  his  life,  and  the  sincerity  and  earnestness  of  his 


99 

efforts  in  advancing  the  cause  of  education,  and  in  the  promotion  of  the  gen* 
eral  interests  of  the  community,  commanded  its  respect  and  gratitude. 

He  was  a  scholar  of  refined  taste  and  the  style  of  his  discourses  was  unusu- 
ally chaste  and  perspicuous,  earnest  and  direct,  harmonizing  with  the  tenor  of 
his  life,  and  rendered  »yet  more  impressive,  during  the  greater  part  of  his 
ministry,  by  his  conscious  and  evident  nearness  to  the  grave. 

Accustomed  to  the  best  forms  of  polished  life,  he  was  dignified  without  dis- 
play, and  courteous  without  dissimulation  ;  constantly  manifesting  in  his 
private  intercourse  and  his  public  labours,  that  for  himself  and  others,  he 
sought  first  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

"  Cautious  himself,  he  others  ne'er  deceived, 
Lived  as  he  taught,  and  as  he  taught,  believed." 

15.  Settlement  and  Support  of  the  Ministry. — In  both  the  Colo- 
nial and  Provincial  grants  of  land  for  plantations  and  towns,  it 
was  customary  to  insert  an  express  condition,  to  insure  the  set- 
tlement of  a  ''  learned  and  orthodox  minister."  But  in  the  ease  of 
Worcester,  the  grant  of  about  eight  miles  square,  was  placed  in 
the  hands  of  a  prudential  committee,  who  were  enjoined  to  take 
due  care  that  "  a  good  minister  of  God's  word  be  placed  there,  as 
soon  as  may  be;  that  such  people  as  may  be  there  planted  may 
not  live  like  lambs  in  a  large  place." 

In  the  case  of  Worcester,  therefore,  a  trust  was  substituted  for  a 
condition.  The  original  committee  appointed  in  1668,  were  Capt. 
(afterwards  Genei-al)  Daniel  Gookin,  Capt.  Thomas  Prentice,  Mr. 
David  Henchman  and  Lieut.  Eichard  Beers,  or  three  of  them, 
of  whom  Capt.  Gookin  should  be  one.  At  the  subsequent 
efforts  to  settle  the  town,  committees  were  appointed  under  a 
similar  trust,  which  proved  equally  effective  as  a  condition. 

Upon  the  attempt  to  re-settle  the  plantation  in  1684,  the  Com- 
mittee,  of  whom  Major  Gookin  w^as  still  Chairman,  enjoined  the 
proposed  proprietors,  "  to  take  care  to  provide  a  minister  with  all 
convenient  speed ;  and  a  schoolmaster  in  due  season ;  and  in  the 
interim,  that  the  Lord's  day  be  sanctified  by  the  inhabitants 
meeting  together  thereon,  to  worship  God  as  they  shall  be  [able]." 
Upon  the  final  and  effectual  organization  of  the  Committee  in 
1713,  under  the  administration  of  Governor  Dudley,  the  same 
providence  was  manifested  for  the  ministry  and  schools. 

But  before  that  time,  in  1692,  the  Provincial  Legislature  took 
those  subjects  in  hand,  and,  by  '^  An  Act  for  the  settlement  and 
support  of  Ministers  and  Schoolmasters,"  established  the  law  in 
relation  to  the  support  of  ministers,  substantially  as  it  remained 


100 

for  more  than  a  hundred  years.  And  as  that  time  embraced  both 
the  period  of  the  erection  of  the  Old  South  Church  in  1763,  and  of 
the  incorporation  of  the  second  parish  in  1787,  it  becomes  materi- 
al to  the  proper  understanding  of  both  those  events  in  our  eccle- 
siastical history. 

The  following  is  the  Act  reierred  to,  it  being  the  4.  Gul.  et  Mar. 
1692. 

"  Sect.  1.  Be  it  ordained  and  enacted  by  the  Governor,  Coun- 
cil and  Representatives,  convened  in  General  Court  or  Assembly, 
and  bj^  the  authority  of  the  same,  that  the  inhabitants  of  each 
town  within  this  province  shall  take  due  care,  from  time  to  time, 
to  be  constantly  provided  of  an  able,  learned,  orthodox  minister 
or  ministers  of  good  conversation,  to  dispense  the  Word  of  God 
to  them,  which  minister  or  ministers  shall  be  suitably  encouraged 
and  sufficiently  supported  and  maintained  by  the  inhabitants  of 
such  town.  *  *  *  And  where  there  is  no  contract  and  agree- 
ment in  any  town  respecting  the  support  and  maintenance  of  the 
ministry,  or  w^hen  the  same  happens  to  be  expired,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants of  such  town  shall  neglect  to  make  suitable  provision  there- 
in, upon  complaint  thereof  made  unto  the  quarter  sessions  of  the 
peace  for  the  County  where  such  town  lies;  the  said  Courtt)f  quar- 
ter sessions  shall,  and  hereby  are  empowered  to  order  a  competent 
allowance  unto  such  minister,  according  to  the  estate  and  ability 
of  such  town,  the  same  to  be  assessed  upon  the  inhabitants  by 
warrant  from  the  court,  directed  to  the  selectmen,  who  are  there- 
upon to  proceed  to  make  and  proportion  such  assessment  in  man- 
ner as  is  directed  for  other  public  charges,  and  to  cause  the  same 
to  be  levied  b}^  the  constables  of  such  town,  by  warrant  under  the 
hands  of  the  selectmen,  or  of  the  towm  clerk  by  their  order." 

<'  Sect.  2.  Be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that 
when  any  town  shall  be  destitute  of  a  minister  qualified  as  afore- 
said, and  shall  so  continue  by  the  space  of  six  months,  not  having 
taken  due  care  for  the  procuring,  settling  and  encouragement  of 
such  minister,  the  same  being  made  to  appear  upon  complaint  unto 
their  majesties'  justices  at  the  general  sessions  of  the  peace  for  the 
county,  the  said  court  of  quarter  sessions  shall,  and  hereby  are 
empowered  to  make  an  order  upon  every  such  defective  town, 
speedily  to  provide  themselves  of  such  ministers  as  aforesaid,  by 
the  next  sessions  at  the  farthest;  and  iu  case  such  order  be  not 


101 

complied  with,  then  the  the  said  Court  shall  take  effectual  care  to 
procure  and  settle  a  minister  qualified  as  aforesaid,  and  order  the 
charge  thereof,  and  of  such  minister's  maintenance,  to  be  levied 
upon  the  inhabitants  of  such  town.'* 

Under  this  law  the  Church  of  the  first  parish,  or  rather  of  the 
town  was  erected,  at  the  common  charge  of  the  inhabitants,  with- 
out any  respect  to  their  different  religious  opinions,  if  such  existed. 
The  legislation  proceeded,  upon  the  principle  always  recognized 
by  the  colonists,  that  the  civil  power  might  enforce  the  perform- 
ance of  a  religious  duty.  The  support  of  the  ministry  and  of 
schoolmasters,  was  placed  upon  the  same  ground  and  by  the  same 
legislative  act. 

By  the  Constitution  of  the  Commonwealth  adopted  in  1780,  it 
is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  while  provisions  for  the  support  of  pub- 
lic schools  were  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  legislature,  it  was  pro- 
vided in  the  third  article  of  the  Bill  of  Eights,  that  "  the  legisla- 
ture shall,  from  time  to  time  authorize  and  require  the  several 
towns,  parishes,  precincts,  and  other  bodies  politic,  or  religious 
societies,  to  make  suitable  provision,  at  their  own  expense,  for  the 
institution  of  the  public  worship  of  God,  and  for  the  support  and 
maintenance  of  public  protestant  teachers  of  piety,  religion  and 
morality,  in  all  cases  where  such  provision  shall  not  be  made  vol- 
untarily." 

The  principles  of  the  provincial  act  of  1692,  so  far  as  the  same 
related  to  the  support  of  the  ministry,  were  thus  incorporated 
into  the  constitution  of  1780.  In  view  of  such  a  state  of  the 
law,  we  shall  cease  to  be  surprised  at  the  tenacity  with  which  a 
majority  of  the  town  in  1787,  held  upon  their  brethren  who  were 
incorporated  as  a  second  parish.  The  new  parish  embraced  a 
respectable  portion  of  the  tax  payers  of  the  town  ;  and  we  can 
account  for  the  resistance  to  their  secession,  without  imputing  to 
the  majority  any  unusual  perverseness.  By  incorporating  the 
second  parish,  the  legislature,  no  doubt,  acted  like  wise  and  just 
arbiters  between  the  parties.  They  proved  that  they  were  wiser 
than  the  laws  under  which  they  acted.  As  said  by  the  learned 
author  of  the  Discourse,  it  was  an  earl}^  step  in  the  progress  of 
reform  towards  religious  freedom ;  but  it  was  not  the  consumma- 
tion of  it. 

By  acts  passed  in  the  years  1800  and  1811,  provision  was  made 


102 

for  exemption  from  taxation  for  parish  purposes  by  a  town  or 
senior  parish,  by  filing  a  certificate  of  the  tax  payer's  membership 
in  some  other  religious  society.  This  was  all  the  legislature  could 
do,  under  the  requirement  of  the  third  article  of  the  Bill  of 
Eights.  But  still  the  requirement  of  such  certificates  of  mem- 
bership, to  exempt  from  taxation,  was  a  perpetual  source  of  irrita- 
tion between  different  religious  societies  as  well  as  individuals.  In 
1833,  an  amendment  of  the  constitution  was  adopted  relieving  the 
legislature  from  the  obligation  of  requiring  towns,  &c.,  to  provide 
for  the  support  of  the  ministry,  and  at  the  first  session  of  the 
legislature,  after  the  adoption  of  that  amendment,  the  final  act  of 
religious  freedom  was  passed,  which  placed  the  support  of  religious 
worship  upon  a  purely  voluntarj^  basis,  a  provision  that  is  now' 
incorporated  with  the  general  laws  of  the  commonwealth. 

The  effect  of  this  change  in  the  policy  of  the  laws  for  the  sup- 
port of  public  worship,  is  such  as  the  promoters  of  it  anticipated. 
Some  unfortunate  individuals  escape  from  the  performance  of  the 
moral  duty  of  supporting  public  worship.  But  society  has  been 
compensated  tenfold,  by  the  greater  harmony  and  prosperity  that 
has  been  superinduced  by  the  voluntary  system  of  support;  and 
few,  if  any,  desire  a  return  to  the  compulsory  * 

16.  The  Common — now  Central  Park. — As  the  First  Parish  have 
such  an  interest  in  the  Common,  or  Central  Park,  as  is  necessary 
for  the  enjoyment  of  their  Meeting  house,  some  notice  of  the  his- 
tory of  that  ground  seems  to  be  appropriate. 

The  first  allusion  to  the  reservation  of  such  a  ground,  is  found 
in  the  doings  of  the  committee  having  in  charge  the  settlement  of 
"  a  new  plantation  about  fourteen  miles  westward  from  Marl- 
borough, near  Quinsigamond  pond,  at  a  meeting  in  Cambridge, 
July  6th,  1669.^'  Present,  Daniel  Gookin,  Esq.,  Capt.  Thomas 
Prentice,  Mr.  Daniel  Henchman. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  in  his  history,  states  that  the  record  of  the  doings 
of  the  committee,  at  the  commencement  of  our  proprietary  book, 
is  in  the  hand  writing  of  the  "  venerable   Gookin."     The   12th 

*  It  is  proper  to  state,  that  the  Chairman  of  the  committee  of  publication  is 
responsible  for  this  note.  As  a  member  of  the  committee  on  the  judiciary  in 
the  Senate  of  1834,  he  reported  the  bill  referred  to,  entitled,  "  An  Act  relating 
to  Parishes  and  Religious  Freedom,"  and  the  same  may  be  found  in  his 
hand  writing,  on  the  files  of  the  General  Court  for  that  year." 


103 

article  of  their  doiDgs,  is  as  follows.  "That  there  bee  a  plase 
reserued  in  comon  noare  the  center  of  the  towne  convenient  for 
that  purpose,  about  t\vent_y  acres  for  a  trayning  plase  and  to  set 
a  scoole  house  upon  :  as  neare  as  may  bee  where  the  meeting 
house  shall  be  plased." 

No  survey  of  this  reservation  appears,  but  there  is  no  doubt 
it  embraced  not  only  the  present  Park,  bat  the  ground  to  the 
north  of  it,  extending  over  Mechanic  street,  to  the  meadow  on 
Mill  brook,  it  was,  indeed,  neare  the  site  of  the  first  meeting 
house,  w^iich  was  situated  contiguous  to  the  present  residence  of 
George  A.  Trumbull,  Esq.,  on  Green  street. 

The  subsequent  records  recognise  the  existence  of  the  Common 
— the  appropriation  of  a  small  portion  of  the  east  side  of  it  as  a 
burial  ground,  and,  in  1719,  the  erection  of  a  meeting  house  oq 
the  west  side  of  it,  ujoon  the  site  of  the  j^resent  house. 

In  1732,  the  proprietors  appointed  a  committee  to  make  a  sur- 
vey of  the  common  land  by  the  meeting  house,  and  in  1734,  the 
committee  made  return  as  by  a  copj^  of  the  subjoined  record  ap- 
pears. 

[Extract  from  the  Propi-ietors'  Records.] 

Pursuant  to  a  vote  of  the  Proprietors  of  the  Comon  and  undivided  land 
in  the  south  part  of  Worcester,  May  the  17th,  1732,  appointing  us  a  Commit- 
tee to  return  a  plat  of  the  Comon  Land  by  the  Meeting  House  in  Worcester, 
having  surveyed  the  same  find  eleven  acres  and  one  hundred  and  forty  rod  in- 
cluding the  Burial  place  and  the  road  thro'  the  said  Comon  is  Bounded  as  de- 
scribed in  this  platt  herewith  returned  &  survey  by  Benj'a.  Flagg. 

All  of  which  is  submitted  to  the  Proprietors  by  us. 

Moses  Rice, 
Worcester,  Nov.  3d,  1734.  Thos.  Stearns, 

Benja.  Flagg,  Ju'r. 
A  copy  of  the  record, 

Attest,— Samuel  Smith,   Citii  Clerh 
Worcester,  Nov.  30,  1863. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  dimensions  of  the  common  as  thus  ascer- 
tained, are  not  nearly  so  large  as  those  originally  contemplated  by 
the  committee  of  the  proprietors,  for  a  training  field  and  school 
house.  A  reference  to  the  plan  returned  by  the  committee  in 
1734,  indicates  that  the  western  boundary  of  the  Common  was 
just  as  it  is  now,  by  the  "  country  road,"  or  Main  street,  and  the 
boundaries  upon  the  south  and  east  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
much  different  from  what  they  are  now,  by  Park  and  Salem 
streets.     But  upon  the  north  line  of  the  Common,  as  found  in 


104 

1734,  a  great  change  in  the  boundary  has  been  made.  At  that 
time,  judging  from  the  platt  returned  by  the  committee,  the  north 
boundary  of  the  public  Common  and  school  land,  coincided  nearly 
with  the  present  line  of  Mechanic  street.  Since  1734,  the  north 
line  of  the  common  has  been  made  to  coincide  with  the  south 
line  of  Front  street ;  and  it  is  not  probable  that  any  further  cur- 
tailment of  it  will  ever  be  suffered. 

By  a  proximate  survey  of  the  Common,  or  "  Central  Park,''  as 
recently  christened  by  the  city  government,  made  by  Gill  Valen- 
tine, Esq.,  it  is  now  found  to  contain  seven  acres. 

In  1834,  the  town  voted  "  that  the  public  common  be  enclosed 
and  ornamented  f  and  the  same,  including  the  burying  ground, 
was  enclosed  by  a  substantial  fence,  as  we  now  find  it.  About  the 
same  time,  the  ground  was  graded  ;  (particularly  the  "  gravelly 
knoll"  relerred  to  in  note  3,  upon  the  east  side  of  the  Norwich  and 
Worcester  railway,  near  Park  street,)  enriched  with  a  coat  of 
loam  and  dirt  from  the  streets;  and  set  out  with  a  variety  of  na- 
tive forest  trees.  Such  was  the  transition  from  the  Common  to 
the  Park ;  saving  upon  both,  the  north  and  south  sides  of  it,  am- 
ple space  for  military  and  firemen's  evolutions.  For  this  great 
improvement  of  the  grounds  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  the  public 
were  much  indebted  to  the  late  Col.  John  W.  Lincoln,  who  was,  at 
the  time,  Chairman  of  the  Selectmen, 

17.  JVote  to  our  descendants  and  successors  of  1963. — When  you 
receive  this  note,  you  will,  no  doubt,  have  read  with  indignation 
and  amazement,  the  history  of  the  "  Great  Rebellion  "  which  at 
present  afflicts  our  otherwise  happy  country.  And  perhaps  you 
will  stop  and  ask,  how  we  could  turn  aside  from  the  great  duties 
of  patriotism  at  such  a  crisis,  to  attend  to  the  minor  social  duties 
indicated  by  these  proceedings?  You  will  find  a  satisfactory 
answer,  we  trust,  in  our  compliance  with  the  divine  precept, 
^'  these  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  others  un- 
done." 

As  the  minor  services  rendered  by  these  historical  notes  were 
designed  more  for  3^ou  than  for  the  present  generation,  we  would 
gladly  have  postponed  their  preparation  till  a  more  convenient 
season  ;  we  might  thus  have  done  the  work  relieved  from  distract- 
ing cares,  and  given  to  it  greater  completeness.  But  we  could 
not  block  the  progress  of  the  rolling  spheres.    At  the  appointed 


time,  they  brought  around  the  Centennial  of  our  venerable  Church, 
adn  the  duties  connected  with  its  appropriate  commemoration 
must  be  performed  tlien  or  never.  And  we  know  that  you  wull 
make  every  proper  allowance  on  account  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  we  have  attempted  to  discharge  those  duties. 

Before  closing  this  note,  you  may  desire  to  be  informed  to 
whom  you  are  indebted  for  whatever  of  pleasure  or  edification 
3'ou  may  derive  from  these  proceedings.  You  will  receive  them 
at  the  same  time  you  receive  this  note,  and  you  will  hence  learn 
that  they  were  institued  under  the  auspices  of  the  mother  of  us 
all,  the  First  parish  of  Worcester.  But  corporations,  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  do  not  w^ork  without  the  aid  of  material  hands  and 
thinking  heads.  And  such  aid  has  been  given  us,  from  sources 
both  within  and  without  the  Parish,  in  instances  quite  too  numer- 
ous to  be  particularized  in  this  note. 

Of  the  pecuniary  aid  rendered,  we  can  speak  more  definitely. 
In  order  fully  to  secure  the  beneficial  objects  of  our  commemora- 
tion, it  was  found  that  a  fund  of  about  seven  hundred  dollars 
would  be  necessary.  That  amount  was  contributed  with  much 
liberality,  in  sums  ranging  from  two  to  fifty  dollars.  And  we  can- 
not more  appropriately  conclude  our  services  as  the  Committee  of 
Publication,  than  by  reporting  to  you  the  names  of  the  donors,  and 
hereto  subjoining  the  same.  We  say  their  names,  because,  long 
before  you  receive  this  note,  nothing  else,  of  earth,  will  remain  of 
them.  In  the  list,  you  will  find  many  ancient  names,  signalized 
in  the  early  history  of  the  town  and  parish — while  there  are 
many  new  ones  to  be  honorably  distinguished,  we  trust,  by  the 
virtues  and  services  of  descendants. 

In  full  faith  and  hope,  that  amidst  all  our  impending  national 
trials,  if  we  do  our  duty,  God  will  favor  us  and  our  children,  as 
He  favored  our  fathers,  we  remain 

Yours,  in  the  bonds  of  Christian  charity, 

Ira  Moore  Barton, 
Allen  Harris, 
Caleb  Dana. 


106 


DONORS  TO  THE  CENTENNIAL  FUND. 


Allen  Harris, 
James  Estabrook, 
Aury  G.  Goes, 
Ira  M.  Barton, 
George  A.  Chamberlain, 
Calvin  Taft, 
John  Boyden, 
Daniel  Ward, 
Samuel  A.  Porter, 
Charles  A.  Lincoln, 
Wm.  D.  Holbrook, 
Franklin  Whipple, 
Dexter  H.  Perry, 
Caleb  Dana, 
Waterman  A.  Fisher, 
Rodney  A.  M.  Johnson, 
Simeon  Clapp, 
Stephen  Taft,' 
Wm.  L.  Clark, 
Luther  Stone, 
Augustus  N.  Currier, 
Erastus  Fisher, 
Richard  Ball, 
Osgood  Bradley, 
Dr.  J.  E.  Linnell, 
Hamilton  B.  Fay, 
Ebenezer  Dana, 


Henry  Goulding, 
Daniel  Tainter, 
Samuel  Bigelow, 
Charles  G.  Livermore, 
Samuel  W.  Kent, 
Dana  H.  Fitch, 
John  D.  Lovell, 
Cyrus  K.  Hubbard, 
Lyman  Taft, 
John  Q.  Hill, 
Samuel  Eddy, 
Mrs.  Mary  Sutton, 
Luke  B.  Witherby, 
Alfred  Parker, 
Samuel  Parker, 
Walter  R.  Bigelow, 
Daniel  Brown, 
Francis  Kendall, 
Jonathan  B.  Sibley, 
Otis  E.  Putnam, 
John  C.  White, 
Charles  Richardson, 
Silas  Barber, 
Henry  Heywood, 
Baylies  Upham, 
Henry  L.  Stowe, 
Charles  H.  Ballard, 
Samuel  Foster, 


Palmer  Harback, 
Henry  W.  Eddy, 
Aaron  M.  Howe, 
John  R.  Fay, 
Stephen  Harrington, 
George  Hobbs,  2d., 
Wm.  Sibley, 
Henry  Grimshaw, 
Ambrose  Lincoln, 
Benaiah  Fitts, 
George  S.  Marshal, 
Wm.  T.  Barber, 
James  H.  Bancroft, 
John  Jones, 
Jonathan  Fawcett, 
Isaac  R.  Joslin, 
Charles  H.  Stearns, 
Ephraim  W.  Bartlett, 
Patrick  H.  Carpenter, 
Nathan  B.  Ellis, 
Asa  H.  Hayden, 
Wm.  G.  Moore, 
Ashley  Moore, 
Elijah  Hammond, 
Eph'm  F.  Chamberlain, 
Ira  McFarland, 
Sumner  Cook. 


FINIS 


*  «    7  7  8  3-/^ 


Corrections. 

Page  29,  line  29,  for  "  of  enginery,"  read  and  enginery. 

37,  "     8,   "   "Vallomorosa,"  read  Vallombrosa.' 

52,  "   27,   "   "  festal,"  read  festival. 

59,  "     4,    "   '''  on  invitation,"  read  of  invitation. 

62,  *'   25,    "   "  award,"  read  accord. 

72,  "     2,    *'   "  1864,"  read  1854. 

86,  "     3.   "   "  1768,"  read  1758. 

87,  "    11,    "   "principal,"  read  principle. 

88,  "   24,   "   "  exhibits,"  read  exhibits. 

95,  "   35,    "   "  1854,"  read  1844. 

96,  "  11,   "   "  Heidelburg,"  read  Heidelberg. 
106,  "     3,    "   "  Samuel  Bigelow,"  read  Samuel  T.  Bigelow. 

"  a     9^   «  <(  Lyman  Taft,"  read  Lyman  J.  Taft. 

"  w  21,    "   "Asa  H.  Hayden,"  read  Asa  Hayden. 

''  "     3,    "    "Aaron  M.  Howe,"  read  Archelaus  M.  Howe. 


ma 


